Mausoleum: A Prompt Exchange Collection
by Mikauzoran
Summary: The members of Poirot Café submitted prompts for our prompt exchange event, and I have taken it upon myself to do them all. My default pairing is usually KaiShin or HakuKai, so most of it is one of those, but there's a lot of different characters, genres, scenarios, and pairings in here. See the top of each chapter for details.
1. Shihominn

Mikau: Hello and welcome! Thanks so much for taking a look at this. Like I said in the summary, we had a prompt exchange event on the Poirot Café forum. Twenty prompts (including my own) were sent in asking for all kinds of situations and pairings and AUs and all kinds of goodness, and I've done all twenty. There's a lot of KaiShin and some HakuKai, and the genres range from angst to pure silliness, so… This first one is pre-HakuKai and kind of silly in places, serious in others. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by Shihominn on Poirot Café.

…

 **Shihominn: The edge of a tattoo is always peeking out from under your shirt and I am obsessed with seeing the whole thing.** **How do I ask you to take your shirt off in a non creepy way?**

He'd never noticed it before because, at school, Hakuba always wore the gakuran during the colder months and, during the summer months, always had his button-down done up to the collar. When they changed for gym, Kaito made a point of never letting himself look at anyone else lest they start to suspect his sexual preferences.

So it wasn't until Kaito and Hakuba actually started hanging out as friends after the whole Nightmare fiasco that Kaito got the chance to see Hakuba in street clothes (other than his work suits), and that was when he first saw the tattoo peeking out from under Hakuba's shirt.

The Brit leaned forward to move his knight to take Kaito's bishop, and Kaito just happened to be looking at the right spot to see a flash of some kind of swirly Edwardian design.

Kaito was struck so absolutely dumb that he was unable to recover his sensibilities sufficiently to put up a good fight. Hakuba completely clobbered him in the two games that followed.

Hakuba Saguru—Mr. Straight-Laced and Goody-Two-Shoes himself—had a tattoo!

And Kaito was absolutely obsessed with it. He _had_ to figure out what it was. It looked big and prominent, stamped over his heart on the left side of his chest. It had to be something important. Hakuba wasn't the kind of person to just get a tattoo on a whim.

Unless he'd been a completely different person while living in London! What if the English Hakuba was a total bad boy who went clubbing and had crazy orgies with BDSM types?! What if he had _piercings_?! Were there other tattoos cleverly hidden under Hakuba's copious layers of clothing? There was one way to find out.

But how was Kaito supposed to ask Hakuba to take off his shirt in a non-creepy way?

He mentally cringed. Yeah. No. There was no way to keep this from being awkward. But it was better to ask politely than to tackle the Brit, pin him to the ground, and forcibly rip his shirt off. That could be misconstrued, especially if Baaya just happened to walk in with tea and crumpets at that very second and took incriminating photographs. Kaito was well aware that she shipped them, so that could get very bad very quickly.

So as Saguru was attempting to make Kaito into a civilized human being by introducing him to the Lord of the Rings series, Kaito casually inquired, "So…sorry to interrupt in the middle of the Elvish grammar lesson, but…would you mind taking off your shirt?"

Saguru looked absolutely floored as his cheeks turned burgundy. He nearly fell off of the couch as he yelped, "Yes! As a matter of fact, I would mind! What in the world has gotten into you, Kuroba?!"

"Nothing," Kaito tried to assure his friend, inching closer. "Nothing creepy or perverted or anything, but I just really need to see your tattoo, so if you could just lose the shirt…"

"No! M-My what?! Stop it, Kuroba! This isn't funny!" Saguru scrambled back away from the approaching magician until he actually did fall flat on the floor.

Kaito pounced, pinning the blonde down with his body weight and trapping Saguru's arms with one hand while the other worked to tear off the shirt.

"Stop!" Saguru screamed in honest to goodness terror as he struggled to free himself. "S-Stop!" he begged, tears falling freely as he openly sobbed.

But it was too late because Kaito already had the shirt off, revealing, not a tattoo, but a brand mark that had been long ago seared into the skin. It was accompanied by other, smaller burns and various remnants of past tortures.

Kaito's face quickly lost all of its color as he frantically climbed off of his friend and helped him up to sitting. "Oh my God, Hakuba, I am _so_ sorry. I didn't mean—I didn't know that—I just thought you had a tattoo, and I was dying to see it, 'cause I thought that it was so unlike you, and I just wanted…I didn't…"

He stopped talking and grabbed the decorative blanket off of the back of the couch to wrap around the still trembling, crying Hakuba.

"I'm sorry," Kaito whispered. "I'm really, really sorry, and I swear _never_ to do anything like that again. I…" He bit his lip, freaking out on the inside, anxious to help his friend. "What should I do? Do you need anything?"

"W-Water," Saguru stammered, pulling the blanket closer around him.

Kaito quickly fetched the requested beverage.

"I'm sorry," he repeated as he handed the bottle over.

Saguru shook his head, beginning to calm down as he drank. "It's okay. I'm okay." He gave a small shiver.

"I'm sorry," Kaito repeated again, feeling incredibly guilty. He felt lower than sea sludge.

"It's okay," Saguru insisted, taking deep breaths and seeming to get everything back under control. "You couldn't have had any idea I would have a panic attack over something like that."

"Yeah, but…" Kaito settled back down beside the Brit, his shoulder pressed to Saguru's. He sank into silent brooding.

Saguru sighed, letting himself lean slightly against Kaito. "You thought I had a tattoo, huh?"

"…Yeah," Kaito begrudgingly admitted, feeling absolutely idiotic at this point.

Saguru gave a tired laugh. "Unfortunately, no. I wish it were something simple like that, but… You know that both of my parents are very influential people? Well, because of that, I got kidnapped to be used as leverage a lot when I was little," he reported matter-of-factly, having long ago become desensitized to the horrible atrocity it had been.

Kaito simply gaped at him, too stunned to comment on how inappropriately stoic his friend was about the whole matter.

"One of my kidnappers was a pedophile with a sadistic streak, so…" Saguru screwed his eyes closed at the memories and shuddered again.

Kaito wrapped an arm around Saguru and squeezed him reassuringly.

"He's dead. He can't hurt me anymore," Saguru whispered under his breath, and at first Kaito thought that Saguru was telling this to him, but then the detective repeated it twice more, and it was then that Kaito understood that Hakuba was trying to reassure himself of that fact.

Kaito squeezed Hakuba a little tighter, resting his head against the blonde's. "Shh. It's okay, Hakuba. I'm here. I won't let anybody hurt you, okay?"

Saguru nodded, but he kept his eyes shut as he continued to tremble, trying to escape from the memories of his past.

Kaito tried to distract him. "Hey. Enough of that. Weren't you going to teach me how verb conjugation in Elvish works as opposed to Klingon? Which I know nothing about either, by the way, so you'll have to nerd vomit all over me about that too, okay? But can you introduce me to Doctor Who first? I think I'll actually enjoy that. And just so you know, I stopped reading Harry Potter after the fourth book, so you'll have to correct that as well. You've got a lot of work to do, Hakuba, so why don't you focus on that right now, okay?" he encouraged, hoping that at least one of those things might pull the Brit out of his nightmarish past and back to the present.

Saguru blinked and stared Kaito right in the eye, tears drying up instantly. "My God," he snorted. "You're worse than I thought. Absolutely un-dateable," the Brit reported with unintendedly painful honesty.

Kaito struggled between feeling insulted, mortified, and worried. Finally he settled on indignant. "Well…fix me then."

Saguru laughed, a bright grin lighting up his face and returning the color to his cheeks.

Kaito felt his stomach flip as he realized that the blonde was actually kind of cute under that prickly exterior he put on.

He kind of wanted to tackle the Brit again, but now he knew what a bad idea that was. He never wanted to see Saguru like that again…so he'd just have to be patient and wait and learn about all sorts of nerdy things until the day came that Saguru took his shirt off in front of Kaito of his own free will.

Kaito was kind of hoping that that ended up being soon. Because Saguru's smile was amazingly beautiful.

…

Mikau: So what did you think? I hope you liked it. If not, maybe next time. Speaking of next time, next chapter will be some Sonoko x Makoto in which Sonoko thinks Makoto is cheating on her, and her girls (plus honorary girl Kaito) attempt to reassure her. Look forward to it!


	2. TinyTantei

Mikau: Thank you for joining me once more, and thank you to the reviewers from last time: .kaito, Lady Rosencrantz, Hebiaczek, and Lover of Emotions! Today's installment features Sonoko freaking out, thinking that Makoto is cheating on her, and her girls (plus honorary girl Kaito) trying to calm her down. Characters include Sonoko, Kaito, Ran, and Sera…Makoto and Hakuba in passing. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by TinyTantei on Poirot Café.

…

 **TinyTantei: How about some Sonoko x Makoto? And make it happy, please! Goodness knows there's too much angst on this forum already, haha.**

"I think Makoto-san is cheating on me!" Sonoko wailed, throwing herself into Ran's arms.

"What?!" Sera shrieked as Kaito choked on his hot chocolate.

"Sonoko, there's no way," Ran assured her best friend as the blonde sobbed into Ran's pajama top.

"But if he is," Sera threw in her five yen as she cracked her knuckles, ready for a fight. "Ran-chan and I will pummel the adulterous crap out of him while Kai-chan pranks him real good."

Kaito sighed as he reached out and put a hand on Masumi's shoulder. "Not helping, Mi-chan."

"Oh." Sera looked disappointed as she put down the two fists that she had been holding at the ready. "Sorry."

Ran, ever the level-headed older sister of the group, tried to get to the bottom of this outburst. "Sonoko, why would you ever think that Kyogoku-san would cheat on you? Hasn't he proved how much he loves you time and time again?"

"Yes, but…" Sonoko's bottom lip quivered as tears and snot streamed down her face. "Hakuba-kun said!"

Kaito and Sera's ears perked up, and they reacted in stereo. "Saguru?!" They looked at each other in surprise and then smiled sheepishly.

"What did Hakuba-kun say?" Ran prompted.

"He said that he went back and forth for a long time before he finally decided to tell me, but the Wednesday before last, the day that Makoto-san said he couldn't have lunch with me because he had training, Hakuba-kun saw Makoto-san downtown shopping for jewelry with a gorgeous brunette!"

Ran and Sera's jaws dropped at this revelation, but Ran was quick to recover and attempt damage control.

"Maybe Hakuba-kun made a mistake. He doesn't know Kyogoku-san very well, so maybe he just saw someone that _looked_ like him," Ran suggested, hoping it was true.

Sonoko shook her head gravely. "No. Hakuba-kun was sure that it was him—glasses, bandage, and everything! Makoto-san is cheating on me with that hot brunette!"

"Snap," Sera breathed, mentally planning out how her match with the offender would go.

"Wait," Kaito demanded, coming down from where he had been stretched out on Sonoko's sofa. "The Wednesday before last? It wasn't in Roppongi, was it? At Mori Tower?"

Sonoko nodded, a little befuddled as to how Kaito knew all of that.

"Sono-chan, that was _me_." Kaito sank down on one of the body pillows with a sigh of relief.

Sonoko, on the other hand, instantly bristled and hissed, "You?! You're trying to steal my Makoto-san from me?!"

Kaito gave his friend a deadpan expression. "No. He's not my type. He asked me to go with him to help him pick something out. We were shopping for _you_ , silly. He would have asked Ran-chan, but since I'm your close friend too and at least partially male, as he says, he asked me instead because he felt more comfortable."

Sonoko blinked slowly. "You…were shopping for jewelry for…for _me_?"

"Of course," Kaito chuckled softly. "Who else? Your beau loves you more than anything, Sono-chan, so you don't have to worry about him starting to sniff around elsewhere. The whole time we were shopping together, he just kept talking and talking and talking about you. I personally love you to death, Sono-chan, but by the end of the two hours, if I had to hear about how pretty and wonderful and perfect you were one more time…"

"But then why did Saguru say that Makoto-san was with a pretty lady?" Sera wondered aloud at the last real point of the case.

Kaito shrugged. "I was in drag at the time."

Ran and Sera nodded, satisfied with that answer.

Sonoko was still curious, though. "What were you wearing? Hakuba-kun said that you were 'the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen'. If you tell us what you were wearing, Kai-chan, then we'll know what Hakuba-kun's type is!" Sonoko could barely contain her excitement.

Ran and Sera didn't really see what all the fuss was about, but they liked seeing Sonoko happy, so…

Kaito blushed, looking away from his friends. "Oh. You know. Skirt, tights, boots, peasant top. Brown banana curls wig. Nothing much."

"Did you bring out those big milk jug boobs?" Sonoko snickered. "It would be funny if Hakuba-kun's type happens to be someone with big boobs.

Kaito's color darkened. "No. Not really. I mean…I pretty much just put on the clothes and the wig, so…I kind of…mostly just looked like myself…with long hair."

"Oh," Ran remarked, her own face turning slightly pink as she pieced together what that meant.

Kaito squirmed a little.

"So…Saguru thinks that you're gorgeous with long hair and in female clothing," Sera chuckled.

"He didn't know it was me," Kaito defended the detective in question quickly so that rumors could be nipped in the bud.

Too late.

Sonoko smirked. "I can't wait to tell Hakuba-kun that that girl he was drooling over so earnestly was really you."

"Just let us know as soon as you two have a happy announcement to make," Sera teased, elbowing Kaito.

The magician shot her a dirty look as he blushed profusely. "I don't want to hear that from you of all people. Aren't you after him for yourself?"

Sera smiled pleasantly and shrugged. "I'd be happy to share him with you, Kai-chan."

Seeing that he was fighting a losing battle, Kaito switched tactics. "Hey, we're not here to talk about _my_ love life, are we? I thought we were having this sleepover to celebrate Sonoko's fifth anniversary with Kyogoku. I mean…Sono-chan, aren't you even going to ask about what kind of jewelry he bought you?"

Sonoko shook her head. "Our anniversary is tomorrow, and we're going to this fancy restaurant to celebrate. I'm guessing he'll give it to me then, and I'm also guessing that he's wanting it to be a surprise since he didn't take me to pick out something myself. I'd rather keep it a surprise until tomorrow."

And surprised she would be when Makoto got down on one knee in the middle of the restaurant and asked her to marry him, but at the present, her unwillingness to ruin the surprise for herself any further opened up the whole evening for teasing Kaito about his upcoming threesome with Hakuba and Sera.

…

Mikau: Huh. That one ended up with HakuKai leanings too. :/ Well, chapter four is _definitely_ some heavy KaiShin, so the KaiShin faction shall be appeased soon. Anyway, I hope you liked this one. Next up is Heiji convincing Shinichi that it's a good idea to "disguise" himself as a pizza boy in order to sneak into Kaito and the girls' sleepover. Hakuba conscientiously objects to the stupidity. Look forward to it!


	3. neonquincy1217

Mikau: Hello, hello! Thank you for joining me again today, and thank you so much to those of you who reviewed: The Midnight Dream, Lady Rosencrantz, and oreioreo! In today's chapter Heiji convinces Shinichi to dress as a pizza delivery guy in order to sneak into Kaito and the girls' sleepover. Characters include Shinichi, Heiji, Hakuba, and Kaito…and the girls in passing. Have fun!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by neonquincy1217 on Poirot Café.

…

 **neonquincy1217: "any DCMK character dresses up as a pizza delivery guy to sneak into a Gosho Girls' night out/sleepover."**

"It's th' perfect plan!" Heiji tried to convince him, shoving the pizza into his hands.

"May I just say for the fifth time that this is absolutely idiotic and it will never work?" Hakuba sighed, shaking his head and wondering, not for the twentieth time, why he was still here associating with this nonsense.

The Osakan glared at his mortal enemy. "Hush ya frog-eater."

Saguru grimaced. "That would be the French. I'm British."

"Didn't some French aristocrats marry into your family when they came over during the Terror?" Shinichi inquired as Heiji stuffed a hat with what was supposed to be a pizza delivery service logo on his head.

Saguru pursed his lips.

"See? Frenchie," Hattori tittered with a grin so wide, Saguru could have driven a tractor trailer through it.

"Can we _please_ get back to how this plan is inanity in and of itself?" the blonde pleaded through gritted teeth with the only other person around that he considered sane.

Shinichi frowned. "I really do wish Kaito was around to do my disguise," he admitted.

Heiji's face turned chili pepper red in fury. "Tha' no good double-crosser is th' _reason_ why Kudo's gotta dress up as a pizza guy an' infiltrate," he declared. "Right now, Kuroba's inside Nee-chan's apartment with Kazuha, tha' Suzuki Zaibatsu girl, tha' high school detective girl tha' were not sure is actually female, an' Nee-chan herself."

Shinichi briefly interrupted to vouch for Sera's biological sex. "Back in high school I was…very _short_ , if you remember."

Heiji snickered. Hakuba sent the formerly shrunken sleuth a pitying look.

"And Sera wore an awful lot of short skirts to school. She's biologically a girl, even if her gender identity doesn't sync with that."

" _Anyway_ ," Heiji launched back into his battle plan. "Kuroba's in there with th' girls fer th' sleepover, an' there's no tellin' what could happen…especially once those lights go off inside. We gotta get an operative in there and monitor th' situation. That's where Kudo comes in."

"It's not going to work," Saguru repeated…for the sixth time.

"Shove it where th' sun don't shine," Heiji hissed. "We're gonna dress 'im up as a pizza dude, an' he's gonna sneak in an' git a handle on what's goin' on. Ready? Let's move!"

The troops failed to rally around the battle cry.

Saguru rolled his eyes. Shinichi frowned.

"I really do wish Kaito could have done my disguise. I feel like…this isn't going to fool anyone." Shinichi raised his concerns to his fearless leader.

Heiji waved them away. "Course it's gonna work. My disguises are flawless. Much better 'en Kuroba's."

"Hattori, your idea of a good disguise is putting on a hat and smearing your face with rice powder," Saguru reminded. "You've never made a convincing Kudo when you've done that, and Kudo isn't going to make a realistic pizza delivery man going that route either."

Heiji glared, crossing his arms and sticking to his guns. "We didn' _use_ rice powder this time. This time we drew some funny eyebrows on 'im and put 'im in a hat. Can't ya see? It's beautiful! My masterpiece!"

Saguru turned to Shinichi, looking rather annoyed. "They call him a genius? Furthermore, they call him one of the _Four_ Geniuses of which I am included in the set? I feel like this is an insult to my dignity as a human being. I would like to lodge a formal complaint."

"You'll be okay, Hakuba," Shinichi assured, adjusting his hat and trying to balance the pizza box. Kaito and I are the other two, so does that make you feel any better?"

" _That_ makes me feel unworthy," Hakuba informed. "Well. Good luck with your pizza delivery run."

"Take lots o' pictures," Heiji instructed, pulling Hakuba into the bushes to wait while Shinichi went in.

As it so happened, Kaito himself was the one to open the door. He blinked at the poorly disguised Shinichi. "…Shin-chan…you've got soot or something on your eyebrows." He reached out and wiped away Heiji's painstakingly concocted disguise before turning to call back into the house, "Hey guys! Shin-chan's here because he's lonely and feeling left out of our sleepover! And he brought pizza!"

Saguru and Heiji could only watch from the bushes while their comrade was eagerly pulled inside by a gaggle of hungry girls…and Kaito.

Saguru gave a snort. "See? Now they've eaten him. What are you going to tell his parents?"

Heiji was too busy bemoaning the demise of his clever masterpiece of a disguise to give Saguru a satisfactory answer.

The blonde sighed in defeat. "Oh, come on. Let's go back to Kudo and Kuroba's apartment before the girls call the police on the two weirdoes in their bushes."

…

The next day, Shinichi sobbed as he recounted his misadventures. "…And then Kaito painted my nails—" He waved the digits, still painted powder blue. "—and put ribbons in my hair while they all talked about boys like I wasn't even there! And when it came time to go to sleep, they were like 'Whatever. We don't feel threatened by you. We just can't even see you as a male.' Then I pointed to Kaito and asked 'Well, what about him?' And they said that 'Kai-chan' was definitely a girl. At least, until he decided he was a boy again. Apparently Kaito gets to change gender at will, and they respect his decision, but I, who have only ever held myself out as being a man, don't even register as male to them!"

"He cried pretty hard about that," Kaito informed them, munching on a carrot stick. "I had to hold him and rock him."

"You did not!" Shinichi squawked. "And I did not cry! …I just got some dust stuck in my eye! That's all."

"It's okay, Kudo. We understand," Saguru assured, casting his friend a look of pity.

…

Mikau: I had a LOT of fun writing this one. ^.^ Thank you, Quincy! I hope you guys enjoyed it too. Next time we have a KaiShin chapter that's a little raunchy. ^.^; Kaito and Shinichi get walked in on, and this necessitates Kaito being introduced to Shinichi's parents. Yeah. Look forward to that!


	4. Stelraetnae

Mikau: Hello again! It's-a me! Mikau! I'm feeling goofy today for some reason. Anyway, today's fic is a kind of raunchy KaiShin fic where the lovers get walked in on…and thus Kaito meets his boyfriend's parents. Enjoy! Oh! But before we go, a special thanks to the reviewers from last time: IbeWildBella, The Midnight Dream, oreioreo, Hebiaczek, Lady Rosencrantz, Icyicy00, mochiusagi, and Guest! Goodness! There were a lot this time! Thank you so much for your support guys!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by Stelraetnae on Poirot Café.

…

 **Stelraetnae: Kaito meets the Kudou parents. Shinichi/Conan can but need not be included, and is very welcome as long as more focus stays on Yuusaku and Yukiko. Any genre goes, so from family fluff to suspense to hurt/comfort, whatever floats your muse. Be as creative as you like!**

"Shin-chan! We're home!" couldn't have come at a worse time because it came just when Shinichi was about to.

" _Shit_ ," Shinichi hissed into Kaito's collarbone, scrambling off and frantically searching for his clothes. "ONE MINUTE!" he shouted to his family as he tried to put on his pants…backwards.

Correcting the issue, he turned back to a very annoyed, unsatisfied Kaito who was still sprawled across the study's couch. "Sorry. Stay here. I'll…I'll…think of something."

"Oh! Are you in the study?" Yukiko called out in delight. "We'll be right there!"

"Just a minute!" Shinichi screeched, wondering what he had done to piss the fates off so much. Hadn't he solved enough murders to atone for whatever he had done in a previous life? Had he been freaking Hitler or something?

With a sigh, Kaito got up and pulled on his own pants, reaching down to scoop a shirt off the floor. He tossed it to Shinichi. " _That_ one is yours. You're gonna look silly in my 'I dance for chocolate' graphic tee."

Shinichi took a minute to appreciate how sexy Kaito looked when he was shirtless and pissed off.

"So," Kaito sighed again as he straightened his clothes. "I guess I'm meeting your parents?"

Shinichi's eyes widened in fear, and his skin went as pale as paste as he thought with dread of the meeting about to take place. "Hell no!" he shrieked. "Go hide or escape out the window or something!"

"Shin-chan!" Yukiko called out as she drew nearer and nearer. She was out in the hall now. She'd be turning the corner and coming in at any minute.

"Hold on!" Shinichi yelled.

"What am I, a secret?" Kaito snorted.

"No," Shinichi tried to explain, but he was running out of time. "Just go! We'll talk later," he hissed in a stage whisper as he dashed out into the hall to head his parents off.

"Mom! Dad! Welcome home! How are you doing?" Shinichi tried to act normal, pretend that he hadn't just been in the throes of passion with his boyfriend minutes before.

Yukiko bounced to an abrupt stop in front of her son, and her curls sprang with an almost audible boing as she did so. Her joyous expression changed to shock and concern when she noted her son's appearance.

"Shin-chan! Are you sick, Honey?" She immediately launched forward, feeling his face, checking his pulse, touching her own forehead to his to check for fever. "Your complexion is all splotchy, and you're drenched in a cold sweat! Yuusaku, look. Doesn't he look feverish?!"

Shinichi's face turned an even deeper shade of cinnabar as his father got called in for a second opinion.

"I'm fine," he tried to assure them, but Yukiko would not relent until she was positive that her baby was safely pulled from death's door.

Yukiko was just suggesting that they head for the hospital when Kaito stepped out of the study, coming up behind Shinichi and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

"Hi. Sorry to interrupt your reunion, but Shinichi's just fine. He's still a little hot and bothered since you guys came home before we could get finished up, but other than that he's a strong, healthy, teenage male."

Yukiko stared at Kaito in confusion as she struggled to link his words together so as to derive meaning. Yuusaku, on the other hand, understood all too well what Kaito was saying and was thus red-faced in horror.

Shinichi, like his father, was turning a lovely shade of scarlet. He prayed to any higher power listening to strike him dead on the spot so that he wouldn't have to explain to his parents that he'd discovered what that thing in his pants was for and that he liked using it with other men.

Kaito, meanwhile, kept talking amicably (probably as some sick form of revenge for being robbed of his cuddle time). "I'm Kuroba Kaito, by the way. I'm your future son-in-law. I'd shake your hand, but mine are kinda…sticky right now."

Shinichi wanted to _die_. He didn't care how. He just wanted to be dead so that he didn't have to endure any more embarrassment.

And then, while everyone else was stunned into silence, Kaito kept going, addressing Yukiko. "And just so you know, Yukiko-oneechan, I'm a big fan of that Taiga drama you were in. You were super inspiring, and your death scene—Gosh!—it brought me to tears!" he gushed. "And now that I've seen you in person, I can understand why Shin-chan didn't want us to meet. You're so pretty, he was probably afraid I would fall for you. You seriously look more like his big sister than his mother."

Next Kaito turned to Yuusaku and grinned. "And it's an honor to meet you, Sir. I've always thought the Night Baron series was pretty good, but that new spy series you're doing now is seriously awesome! I can't wait until book number three comes out! You're a seriously talented writer, Sir."

All of the flattery seemed to break the ice. Yukiko slapped on a bright grin and greeted her son's boyfriend. "Well, hello there, Kaito-kun! Aren't you just the sweetest thing? Shinichi didn't tell us that he had such a handsome, agreeable boyfriend with good taste in entertainment!"

"You wouldn't happen to be Kuroba Touichi's son, would you?" Yuusaku finally spoke up, trying to keep an open mind for his son's sake.

"Of course he is," his wife cut in. "He's as pretty as Chi-chan, and he's got Sensei's silver tongue. Of course he's Sensei's son." Yukiko turned back to Kaito and smiled. "You may not remember, but I was a student of your father's, so we met when you were little. I'm pleased to see you've turned into a fine young man."

Yuusaku came in again, "Your father, Kaito-kun, was actually a very dear friend of ours, so we're glad to welcome you to the family."

"Mmhmm," Yukiko agreed. "And we're really sorry for interrupting you two earlier. We know how awful that can be. Now, why don't you two go upstairs and take a nice, long shower together? We'll get to know each other better over lunch once you two are finished."

Completely mortified and willing to take any escape route that he could get, Shinichi meeped out a quick "Thanks" to his parents as he practically dragged Kaito off.

And that left Yukiko and Yuusaku, standing in the hall trying to process.

"Kaito-kun seems nice." Yuusaku was the first to speak.

"Yeah," Yukiko remarked half-heartedly.

"You don't think so?" Her husband softly rested a hand on her shoulder.

She frowned. "It's not that. He is. He is nice, but…I'm just a little…Do you think something happened with Ran-chan while we were away? We've been gone for almost a year, and we don't really check in with him much. What if something really bad happened between them, and we weren't here for Shin-chan, so now he's gone off the deep end of grief and has started dating other men because he feels he can never love another woman again?!"

Yuusaku smiled indulgently at his wife, rubbing her arm comfortingly. "Honey, judging by the body language going on between those two, I don't think we have to worry about Shinichi throwing himself into another relationship as a rebound. He really does seem to be crazy about Kaito-kun."

"You're sure?" Yukiko's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as her eyebrows pinched together in suspicion.

Yuusaku smiled fondly. "Oh yes. Definitely crazy about one another. Shinichi's okay regardless of whatever happened to break him away from Ran-san."

Yukiko bit her lip and thought about it for a minute. She let out a long, slow breath and nodded. "Okay. If you're sure about this." And then a chipper grin came to her face. "And Kaito-kun does seem like such a nice person! Did you hear what he said about my work? How pretty I was? I _love_ a good suck-up!"

"Yes, you do," Yuusaku sighed, afraid that their new son-in-law would absolutely spoil his wife. "And goodness knows that you need your ego stroked."

"Yep!" Yukiko giggled as she gleefully made her way to the kitchen. "Once an hour at minimum!"

"Then Kaito-kun will serve you rather well." Yuusaku shook his head and followed.

Truthfully, he liked Kaito too. He reminded Yuusaku of Yukiko with his exuberance and personality. He was of the opinion that people like that made the best life partners, and he hoped that his son would come to believe the same.

…

Mikau: So I doubt Stelraetnae ever saw _this_ coming when she sent in her prompt. I'm sorry. Like, really sorry. Unless you like KaiShin. If that's the case…um…Happy Birthday! Enjoy! But anyway, I hope you guys had fun with this hot mess of I don't know what happened. ^.^; The next one will be a Magic Kaito character Christmas gift exchange featuring Aoko, Akako, Keiko, Hakuba, and Kaito. Look forward to it!


	5. geekygenius

Mikau: Hello again! In this chapter, the Magic Kaito group does a Christmas gift exchange. Characters include Keiko, Aoko, Akako, Kaito, and Hakuba. No pairings. Just friendship. I hope you enjoy it. Before we get underway, I just want to thank all of the reviewers. I really appreciate you taking the time to send in feedback, and I enjoy reading your comments. It's always so good to know that people are enjoying my work. It makes me want to write more. ^o^ A big thanks to: IbeWildBella, oreioreo, mochiusagi, and The Midnight Dream!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by geekygenius on Poirot Café.

…

 **geekygenius: I think it'd be really cool to see any set of characters (writer's choice) doing an exchanging of gifts for Christmas. It could be between the shounen tantei dan, or done at a christmas party at Kuroba's house, etc. I'd like to maybe have the reactions of the characters to their gifts too, if the author feels up to it:) Funny/interesting gifts would be a nice bonus.**

Aoko hadn't really liked the padded bra Kaito had bought her (he'd gotten smacked pretty hard for his gag gift), but Aoko had just adored the five-year, question-a-day journal Keiko had given her, and Akako's charm for protecting the home had been greatly appreciated what with the recent increase in break-ins in their neighborhood.

"That way you won't have to be so anxious when you're home alone on nights when your father's out," Akako reasoned, adding that "It also keeps out evil spirits too, so it's helpful in preventing demonic possession. Anyone entering your house will be instantly cleansed."

"Good to know!" Aoko replied cheerily, always amused by how odd Akako was.

"What did you get from Hakuba-kun?" Keiko urged, looking over Aoko's shoulder.

"Aoko hasn't opened it yet," Aoko informed as she pulled the small, card-sized present out from under the discarded bra.

"It's just a trifle," the young man in question insisted, blushing as Aoko carefully tore open the packaging.

Kaito rolled his eyes and mocked, "Yeah. Sure. After the expensive perfume you got Akako and the concert tickets you bought Keiko-chan? A trifle. I'm sure."

Aoko gasped in delight. "It's a giftcard for Pharaoh's! That super expensive, uber fancy new dessert buffet place that just opened up in Shinjuku! Aoko's been wanting to try there _soooo_ bad! Thank you so much, Hakuba-kun!"

"You're very welcome. I know you've been talking about it, so…" Hakuba accepted her thanks with a humble shrug.

"Hakuba-kun gives the most thoughtful gifts, doesn't he?" Aoko pointedly asked Akako and Keiko even as she gave Kaito a meaningful look.

"Yeah, yeah," Kaito grumbled. "I thought the bra would help you with your self-confidence and your non-existent love life since you're as flat as a tapeworm. And I think the game I got Keiko-chan and the bracelet I gave Akako were fine gifts." He turned to Hakuba and snickered, "You'll just have to wait and see what I got _you_. For now, it's _my_ turn."

And Kaito reached out for his first gift. From Keiko he received a concert DVD, and Akako gave him…

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" He raised an eyebrow at the little sack of fragrant herbs.

"A protective amulet," the witch returned with a snort. "It's full of very strong magic that will keep you safe. It can even help deflect bullets, so make sure you wear it, okay? I put a lot of effort into tracking the ingredients down, and now I owe a witch in Chinatown the next mermaid's eye I get my hands on, so you'd better appreciate what I go through for you."

"Yes ma'am," Kaito responded docilely, trying not to think too hard about mermaid's eyes. He'd be sure to wear the amulet to his next heist, though. He wouldn't be testing out those bullet deflecting skills on purpose, but if a stray bullet did come his way, he'd rather take it while wearing the amulet than while not.

From Aoko he received a practical gift: a microwave only cookbook with recipes for soups, vegetables, sides, main dishes, and desserts.

"Aoko figures that this way Kaito will be able to cook _something_ decent even when Aoko's not around. He has to learn to fend for himself someday, and Aoko thinks that this is a good first step." Aoko nodded sagely.

Kaito frowned. "I could cook for myself just fine…. It's just easier to come crash at your place and mooch off of you when you'll do the work for me."

He got hit in the head with the little cookbook for his trouble.

"And what did Hakuba-kun get you?" Keiko chimed in a second time, lest the blonde's gift be forgotten.

"Looks like another book," Kaito hummed, picking the package up as the girls looked on with interest.

Saguru shifted uncomfortably as he watched from his place at the Nakamoris' dining room table. "It's not as expensive as the others' gifts, but…"

Kaito finished pulling back the paper to reveal "A scrapbook?" He furrowed his brow in puzzlement.

Hakuba tensed.

Kaito opened the book, and his countenance changed from confusion to absolute shock. "This…This is…"

Saguru looked away. "I was doing some research on Kid…the early days when he first appeared. I thought…seeing as you're such a fan of Kid, I thought you might be interested in the history of your hero, so I took the liberty of compiling all of the newspaper articles, the magazine clippings, crime scene photos, witness accounts, police interviews, advertisements, and heist notices I could find into a sort of collector's volume for you."

Kaito was absolutely speechless as he leafed through the book. Every page was filled with the details of his father's exploits—Kuroba Touichi's style and character evident in the story that those heists told. That book contained his father's legacy. And better yet, there were pictures of his father in there. They were a little blurry, and you, obviously, couldn't make out much detail, but it was his father all the same.

Kaito had never seen his father as Kid. He'd always wondered what it was _supposed_ to look like, how he was supposed to do it. And now he finally had the opportunity to see…thanks to Hakuba.

He turned to his rival, eyes misting over with the beginnings of happy tears that he would never let fall.

"Thank you," he whispered, voice weak under all of the emotion.

…

Mikau: I'm sorry. I don't know what Kaito got Haku-chan. Probably a gag gift that he feels really bad about now. I imagine he takes it back and gets Hakuba something nice…like a copy of a book that really meant a lot to him growing up…like The Little Prince. Or something like that. Anyway! Next fic is beautiful. Or maybe it's really bad. I can't tell, but I have a feeling you'll tell me. The prompt is "Gin drinks hot chocolate". Yes. Speculate upon that until tomorrow.


	6. rainbowcupcake

Mikau: Hi guys! Thank you for coming back for more. Today we have something that I've never done before—Gin. Gin drinks hot chocolate. This turned out really interesting (at least I think so, and I hope you do too). Characters featured are Gin, Vermouth, and Bourbon. Vodka and Sherry are mentioned but not physically present. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter: IbeWildBella, The Midnight Dream, Hebiaczek, neonquincy1217 (times two), april-list, mochiusagi, and oreioreo! I enjoyed reading your feedback. Well, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by rainbowcupcake on Poirot Café.

…

 **rainbowcupcake: "Gin drinks hot chocolate"**

Other people were stupid. They didn't make any sense, and that made him angry. When Gin got angry, he tortured peopled and drank…and went to the shooting range. Not really for practice or anything. He just liked the feeling of shooting a gun. It was calming. It was better when accompanied by the smell of blood and his namesake alcohol, but…

Anyway. Other people were stupid. They didn't make sense, and they were only good when they were dead. Gin wanted Sherry dead so that she wouldn't be stupid and frustrating anymore.

She was still upset that he'd killed her sister nearly a year ago. What was her deal? Why get mad at him over it? He didn't understand why she cared. He didn't understand why he cared that she cared.

Gin had never had anyone he was close to. He'd been raised in the Organization, and he'd been "Gin" for as long as he could remember. He had no family, so he couldn't understand the bonds other people seemed to form. Maybe it was similar to the way he felt for his guns. If he could be said to love anything, it would be his guns…and hot chocolate, but no one but Vodka knew that because he'd walked in on Gin while Gin was drinking.

Vodka had said it was kind of cute. Vodka ended up in the hospital, and the boss got mad at Gin. Gin didn't understand what the big deal was. Vodka was replaceable.

Vodka was the person to whom Gin was closest. Gin was told that the two were like brothers, so Gin imagined himself as understanding sibling relationship to some degree. The only reason why he hadn't killed Vodka yet was because Vodka's replacement might be even more obnoxious. And Gin was used to _this_ level of obnoxious-ity. So he fancied himself as understanding Sherry's feelings for her sister. Therefore he couldn't understand why the hell she was so upset. Gin wouldn't be carrying on like that if Vodka died. What was the big deal?

He'd have to kill her. If she were dead, she couldn't confuse him anymore.

At the moment, the closest he could get to killing was firing a gun, so he headed for the shooting range.

Unfortunately two of his least favorite people were already there. Bourbon was taking aim at the target while Vermouth sat on the sidelines and smirked like a cat.

Gin liked killing cats. He really wished he could kill Vermouth—cackle as he filled her with bullet holes and then smear her blood all over before mutilating the corpse.

He'd told Vodka that once, and Vodka had shivered and told him that he was nuts.

Vodka didn't get it because Vodka wasn't raised in the Organization like Gin. Gin had been brought up a killer without emotions. Only another killer without emotions could understand what delight Gin would take in Vermouth's destruction.

Sherry should have understood. Sherry's parents had both been in the Organization. Sherry had been raised in the Organization like him, but…unlike him, she'd been coddled. She'd never been trained like he had.

They were different. That was why she was confusing and frustrating. She didn't know any better. Maybe if he could teach her to be like him, then they could get along better. He just needed to make her be like him.

No. It would be better to kill her. More satisfying. Or maybe he would keep her alive and torture her. Decisions, decisions.

"Gin," Vermouth snickered as he entered the arena "You'll never guess, but our little Bourbon is in love."

"Vermouth-san," Bourbon growled in that low, overly-friendly warning tone with a saccharine smile. "Don't joke around like that. He may take you seriously."

"Oh, I'm not joking." Vermouth smirked a bit of tongue sticking out facetiously. "You're in L-O-V-E, _loooove_."

Bourbon turned with a glare, leveling his gun at his coworker. "I said, don't joke around like that. Please."

Vermouth held up her hands and shrugged, not looking the least bit perturbed by the firearm. "Have it your way, Romeo. If you'd just be honest about your feelings, Big Sister Vermouth could help you out, you know."

Bourbon turned back to the target and shot his bullets in an x pattern over the heart.

Only they weren't in perfect alignment like they usually were. It wasn't like Bourbon. The young man usually had impeccable precision. Vermouth's taunts were throwing him off…or else he really was in love.

Love was stupid, like other people. And Sherry.

Gin never planned on falling in love. He wasn't even sure that he could.

"You two are obnoxious," Gin decreed, turning around and going back to his room. Shooting a target wasn't worth having to deal with Bourbon and Vermouth.

Once he got back, he locked the door and made a cup of hot chocolate. He stared into the flames as he sipped at his consolation chocolate, and he tried to call up memories of the scent of burning corpses. Some people liked cinnamon. Gin liked death. It was calming.

He took slow drinks from his mug, little by little, and it made him feel better—less angry, confused, and frustrated—for the time being…but when he'd finished…

He sighed, throwing the mug Vodka had given him as a gag gift (and subsequently ended up in the hospital for even bringing up the incident) into the fire.

He wanted Sherry to be there. So he could kill her. So that she'd stop making him angry…and frustrated…and confused.

He got up and made other cup of hot chocolate.

…

Mikau: Did I just write one-sided GinSherry? O.O Hn. Never thought that would happen. And I wonder who Amu-chan is in love with. ^.^ Wonder if it's a pretty little barista that we all know and love. Actually, this scene is supposed to be the other side of one that occurs in my AmuAzu fic A Metamorphosis. I love Vermouth, by the way. I never get to use Org characters, so this was super fun to do. Thank you, rainbow! I really do think that there's more to Gin than meets the eye, and I'd really like to explore his character more, but…what did you think? Also! Next time. Kaito's relationship with magic after his father's death. See you then!


	7. StarlightDragons

Mikau: Happy Friday, everybody! We're back and today we have Kaito and how his relationship with magic is shaped by his father's death. Kara…that's not how you spell "characters". Huh. I'm tired. _Characters_ include…well, Kaito. And sort of Touichi. Enjoy! But before you do, I really want to thank all of the reviewers from last chapter: The Midnight Dream, mochiusagi, Hebiaczek, Lady Rosencrantz (times three), EverThePhantom, and Shana-Fujioka (times two)! I'm so glad that you guys are enjoying these. ^o^ Okay. Now enjoy.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by StarlightDragons on Poirot Café.

…

 **StarlightDragons: Kaito working excessively hard at magic or entirely avoiding magic, after/because of Toichi's death?**

When my dad died, my memories of him where my worst enemies.

I'd remember sitting on his lap when I was little and him talking to me about preforming. And remembering that hurt because I would never sit on his lap again.

I'd think of how he used to take me into his workshop, show me his tools—the rings, the cards, the handkerchiefs, the birds… He'd teach me how to shuffle, and he'd let me help him train the doves. The birds ate right out of my hand, and he'd teach me each and every one's name. …And it made my chest ache and my eyes burn because we'd never spend time together like that again.

Remembering what my dad told me, his instructions and training, was painful right after his death—all that stuff about how to hold the cards, where to hide the quarter, how to misdirect the audience's attention…poker face….

Thinking about things like that hurt eight year-old Kaito immensely. So he tried not to. He tried to box all that up and put it away so it wouldn't hurt anymore. It worked for a little while, but not so much in the long run.

For six months after my old man died, I avoided magic like the plague. Magic was what had stolen him away from me in the first place.

My mom was in the hospital after her breakdown, and I was passed around between distant relatives and family friends—none of which I had ever met before. I was lonely, and it hurt to remember what I had lost. So I didn't think about it.

I don't remember a lot of what happened those first six months. I get the impression that I stared off into space a lot. There are snippets here and there, but they're all a monotonous, depressing blur.

The one thing that stands out is the first day I did a card trick again. There was a girl at the park who had fallen down and skinned her knee. She was crying, and I went over to her and showed her one of the first tricks I had ever learned. She brightened right up, and it made me feel good about myself that I had used magic to make someone happy.

That was when I decided to try magic again. I remembered all of the things that my dad had told me about how to play to the audience, how to keep them entertained, make them laugh, make them feel something, connect with you through your tricks, and I did my best to put all of that advice into practice.

I missed my dad, and doing magic was my way back to him.

I threw myself into it after that, and that was almost as painful as trying not to remember because I was out of practice and sucked pretty bad. I was desperate to get better, though, so I practiced every day, and by the time my mom got out of the hospital a year later, I was well on my way to being a mediocre street magician.

It was a step in the right direction.

Now, I see magic as a link connecting me with my father. It's a special language that the two of us speak. When I do his tricks or use what he taught me to create my own, I feel him right there beside me, speaking to me through the magic.

…

Mikau: This is actually the first one of these prompts that I did, but I don't know if it's my best one, so I put it after some of what I felt were my stronger ones, but maybe I'm completely wrong. After all, more than half of these I wrote when I was dead tired, and all of them are written completely off the cuff with no planning, so… ^.^; Anyway! Next time we have poor Shinichi trying to deal with seven, count 'em, _seven_ crazy Kaitos. Good luck, Shinichi. You're gonna need it. Look forward to that nonsense.


	8. neonkoi

Mikau: Hey guys! Today, watch as Shinichi attempts to wrangle seven crazy Kaitos. Good luck, Shinichi. Characters include Shinichi, Kaito times seven, and Hakuba. Thanks so much to last chapter's reviewers: The Midnight Dream, Lady Rosencrantz, and ForgetfulDaffodil! I wonder if the fic was no good or if posting on Friday night is no good? Last fic didn't do as well as usual. Hn. :I And now on with the chaos.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by neonkoi on Poirot Café.

…

 **neonkoi: Chaos amongst doppelgangers**

"What the hell are we gonna do?!" Shinichi screeched as two of the seven Kaitos started to play keep-away with his shoe.

"You mean after we have an orgy?" Saguru muttered as one of the Kaitos pushed him down on the couch and proceeded to give him a lap-dance all the while wearing a predatory smirk.

"Did I say that out loud?" Hakuba wondered a moment later.

The Kaito smirked and nodded, seemingly having no objections to Hakuba's desires.

Shinichi took a minute away from the game of keep-away to glare at his friend. "Hakuba, now's not the time for that."

"Any time's a good time," the lap-dancing Kaito chuckled as he made Saguru gasp.

"What are you doing?! I would never sleep with him!" another Kaito shrieked.

"I'd sleep with anybody!" the slutty Kaito giggled, spreading Saguru's knees.

"I'm too good for him!" his lookalike proceeded to argue. "I'm too good for anyone!"

Shinichi gave up on recovering his shoe to go over and pull the lusty Kaito off of the momentarily addled Hakuba.

"I'm hungry," one of the Kaitos complained while eating the entirety of the pack of dorayaki that Shinichi had been saving for later. Once the hungry Kaito had finished, as the crumbs still fell from his mouth, he turned to the Kaito napping next to him and repeated, "I'm still hungry."

The napping Kaito pretended not to hear until the hungry Kaito repeated himself a third time. Then and only then did he finally deign to reply, "Well that's your problem then, isn't it? I'm not getting up, at any rate. You'll have to go to the store yourself. _I_ certainly won't be bothered. I can't even expend the energy to talk about it anymore." And then he promptly went back to sleep.

The hungry Kaito next turned to his left, looking at the rather irritated Kaito there with doleful eyes. "I'm hungry."

The irritated Kaito got up and smashed the wooden stool he'd been sitting on to pieces as he screamed all manner of obscenities.

Hungry Kaito started to tear up, gave a little whimper, shivered like a punted Chihuahua, and then started to pick up the crumbs he had dropped like a poor starving child that didn't know if there would ever be anything after the crumbs.

It was about then that the two Kaitos playing keep-away got bored and came over to play with the lascivious Kaito.

"That's mine," the Kaito on the left informed Shinichi, taking the sex-crazed Kaito away.

Slutty Kaito didn't seem to mind and immediately started sucking on the left-hand Kaito's collarbone.

As soon as the Kaito on the left procured the slutty Kaito, the Kaito on the right gasped, "I want that!"

"You can't have him. He's mine," left-hand Kaito informed matter-of-factly, showing a little teeth to get his point across.

"According to you, _everything's_ yours!" the right-hand Kaito retorted.

"You only want him because I have him. It was the same with the shoe. You don't actually _want_ the things themselves; you just want to take them away from other people."

"We can share me!" slutty Kaito announced with a giggle. "Kaito sandwich!"

"You all are idiots," the seventh Kaito snorted, crossing his arms and shaking his head at the stupidity with which he was surrounded.

"Okay," Shinichi broke in. "Who's the real Kaito here?"

Seven voices in unison responded, "I am!"

Shinichi pursed his lips.

"Perhaps you'd better ask which one's in charge?" Saguru suggested as he regained control of himself.

" _Well_?" Shinichi posed the question to the peanut gallery.

They all looked to Kaito number seven who preened a bit before answering haughtily, " _I_ am."

"Then maybe you can tell me what's going on?" Shinichi inquired hopefully. "All I know is that I opened the door and trouble times seven walked in."

The ringleader shifted uncomfortably before confessing, "We stole something we shouldn't have, and it split us up."

The other six nodded in tandem…well…not the lazy one or the angry one. They were too busy sleeping and looking like a cranky mob boss respectively to have much to say.

"And what was this gemstone called? It _is_ another one of your funky jewels, isn't it?" Shinichi fished for more information.

The Kaito in charge rubbed the back of his neck. "It's the Stone of the Seven. Originally we thought it was some kind of reference to the seven samurai or the magnificent seven, the seven days of the week, the number of Batmans or Supermans or James Bonds or something—" (Here Saguru interrupted to correct him on the respective numbers of Batmans, Supermans, and James Bonds.) "—but…now we're thinking it's the Stone of the Seven…deadly sins."

Shinichi nodded. "That would make sense. What did you do with the rock?"

Pride, their leader, looked at Envy and Greed (the two who had been playing keep-away and arguing over Lust). "Do you two still have it?"

The twin Kaitos shook their heads. Greed replied simply that last he knew, Gluttony had been trying to eat it.

All eyes turned on the hungry Kaito who teared up and shook his head. "Wrath took it away from me and threw it at Sloth."

Next they all stared at the sleeping Sloth.

"Should we wake him up?" Saguru wondered.

Wrath made the decision for them all, getting up off the floor (where he'd been sitting since he'd broken his stool) and giving Sloth a good kick, demanding the gem back.

Sloth gave it up without a fight and went right back to sleep.

"I want that!" Envy quickly rushed at it with Greed on his heels claiming it as his own.

"So how did this separation come about?" Shinichi sighed, looking back to Pride while Lust, now forgotten by Greed and Envy, attached himself to Shinichi's leg.

"We touched the gem." Pride shrugged.

"Maybe you should touch it again?" Saguru offered helpfully.

Pride shrugged. "It couldn't hurt. I'm glad that I thought of that."

Shinichi rolled his eyes and forced the Kaitos to all gather around, placing their hands on the stone at once.

There was a big flash of light, and suddenly there was only one Kaito standing in the middle of the Kudo living room.

He gave a shudder and dropped the stone. "I feel absolutely violated!" he yelped. "And the worst part is that I don't even like dorayaki!"

"If that was the worst part, I think we can call ourselves lucky," Shinichi sighed, infinitely glad that it was over.

…

Mikau: Well that was silly. Here's hoping you enjoyed it. I really want some dorayaki now. Hm. Anyway! Next time we have for you…it's actually the prompt I came up with. ^.^; The prompt was "Complete this scene: two characters of the same sex are hiding in a closet. One of them has something on their head. Must include the word 'rumor'. Go! ^o^" I actually didn't have anything particular in mind when I submitted that prompt, but when it came time for me to do it…well…a disgruntled Hakuba and a distraught Kaito ended up in a closet with a stuffed octopus on Kaito's head. Yeah. See you tomorrow!


	9. Mikauzoran

Mikau: Hi everyone! Welcome back! Tonight we have Hakuba and Kaito hiding in a closet with a stuffed octopus on Kaito's head! Yeah. Characters include Hakuba and Kaito with Aoko and Akako in passing. Thanks a bunch to last fic's reviewers: AngelsBeast, ForgetfulDaffodil, Lady Rosencrantz, Hebiaczek, neonquincy1217, Blue Waters 52, The Midnight Dream, and Shana-Fujioka!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by Mikauzoran on Poirot Café…which is me (no, not Aoyama Gosho), so technically I do own the prompt this time. Not too sure I want to claim it, though. ^.^;

…

 **Mikauzoran: Complete this scene:** **Two characters of the same sex are hiding in a closet. One of them has something on their head. Must include the word "rumor".**

Hakuba Saguru had been minding his own business, walking down the hallway when he'd been grabbed and pulled into the janitor's closet.

Alarmed and fearing it to be yet another kidnapper, Saguru began to struggle and was on the point of judo-flipping his assailant when he realized that it was only Kuroba Kaito.

The blonde frowned darkly, hoping his intense disapproval would get through to the goofball magician.

Kaito responded with a very loud "Sshhhh!" as if Saguru's glower came with blaring sound effects.

"You do know that it's illegal to abduct people, right?" Saguru informed, dryly.

"Quiet. She'll hear you," Kaito berated.

Hakuba sighed. "Kuroba, what on earth are you doing hiding in a closet with a stuffed octopus on your head?"

His classmate's expression soured. "I'm hiding from Aoko. The octopus is for camouflage."

Saguru raised an eyebrow. "Maybe if you were hiding in an aquarium."

"Fine. It's my comfort object. I hug it when I need comfort," Kaito spit. "Now shut up, or she'll hear you."

The trenches of confusion in Saguru's forehead deepened, but he didn't bother pointing out that the octopus was currently on Kaito's head, not hugged to his chest. Maybe it was that the octopus was hugging _him_. "And why are we hiding from Aoko-kun?"

Kaito rolled his eyes, frustrated at the detective's incessant chatter. "Look, have you heard that rumor about how Aoko asked Akako out?"

Saguru nodded. He'd heard the rumor, and he'd ignored it because it was obviously fabricated.

"Well, it's true," Kaito informed him. "Aoko's been trying to tell me so all day, and I, frankly, don't want to hear it."

Saguru attempted to process what he'd been told, that failing, he moved on to the next question. "Very well. But why did you pull me into the closet with you?"

Kaito shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I know you pass by this way every day after school at this time, so I thought…maybe if I hid here, when Aoko comes, I'll pretend that she caught me making out with you."

Saguru's mind completely shut down. Instead of even trying to comprehend, he just asked, "Why? And why me?"

Kaito pulled the octopus down a little to obscure his face from Hakuba's full view. "It's a matter of pride. Because if she thinks I'm gay, I wouldn't have ever been in love with her in the first place, so it won't matter if she's going out with Akako. Because I'm okay. Because I have someone else, so I don't need her or her excuses or her pity," Kaito mumbled. "And I picked you because you kind of seemed to have a thing for me anyway, so I thought that maybe you wouldn't mind helping me out."

Saguru sighed as he looked at Kaito in such a pathetic state. "Kuroba, why don't I just go tell Aoko-kun that she doesn't need to tell you because you already know and don't really feel like talking about it?"

Kaito sank down into a crouch in the tiny space, and the giant stuffed octopus plushie completely blocked his expression from view. His voice was utterly without emotion as he replied, "Oh. Okay. That's fine. Thank you. I'm just going to sit here a little bit longer with the octopus, if that's okay."

Saguru frowned. Kuroba was totally shutting down, and it sounded like he could start crying at any moment. His pride was wounded, his feelings were hurt, and, worst of all, it felt like his heart had shattered inside of him. And Saguru felt his heart ache for his rival and sometimes friend.

Hakuba settled down on the floor beside Kaito, hugging his knees to his chest as he attempted to fit his less than petit frame into that miniscule space. Once situated, he reached out and patted Kaito gently on the knee. "It's going to be okay, Kuroba, but why don't I sit with you and keep you and the octopus company a little longer?"

"That would be okay, I guess," Kaito whispered, secretly grateful as tears began to fall silently.

…

Mikau: Man, I am so mean! Poor Kaito. Well, at least he's got Hakuba to be a friend to him. I hope things work out…. I feel that I shouldn't say things like that as the author. I feel like it's my responsibility to make sure that things work out. ^.^; Anyway! Next time we have Shinichi x Conan. Yep. Please look forward to seeing how I figured that one out.


	10. BlackCriminal (96hani)

Mikau: Good evening everyone! And a major thanks to all of my reviewers from last time: mochiusagi, Lady Rosencrantz, The Midnight Dream, Hebiaczek, and EverThePhantom! Today we have Shinichi x Conan. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by BlackCriminal (96hani) on Poirot Café.

…

 **BlackCriminal (96hani): I'd like some Shinichi x Conan.**

"So how are things going with Ran?" Conan asked, swinging his legs (which were still too short to reach the floor when they sat in one of the booths at Poirot) and sipping at his coffee (a special treat that he only got when hanging out with Shinichi).

Shinichi winced at the question. Conan asked every week, every time they hung out. The answer was always some variation on the same theme. "Not so great, actually."

Ever since Shinichi had kind of sort of gotten his body back by making a deal with Akako the witch for a potion that separated Shinichi from Conan, things hadn't been going well with Ran.

In his very long absence, Ran had kind of forgotten what Shinichi was actually like. With him gone and not bothering the crap out of her every day, she'd somehow managed to manufacture this whimsical ideal Shinichi in her head, so when the real Shinichi had come back, he hadn't measured up to her mental picture of him. As a result, Ran was sort of feeling a little disenchanted.

"Oh? That's a shame," Conan pretended to be indifferent as he stole a bite of Shinichi's lemon curd tart.

"I just feel like I can't relate to anyone anymore, and they can't relate to me either," Shinichi continued with a sigh, swirling the straw of his own iced coffee round and round. "Everything I've been through these past two and a half years has changed me. It's become such a big part of who I am, and I can't even talk about it with anyone."

"There's always Kid," Conan suggested helpfully.

Shinichi shrugged. "Kid's a looney. Sera and Hakuba can keep him."

Conan nodded. He set down his coffee mug and stood up on the bench seat of the booth. He put his hands down flat on the table and leaned across it to give Shinichi a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm always there for you, and _I_ know what you're going through," he reminded his other half.

Shinichi blushed, closing his eyes. "This is weird."

"Only if you make it weird." Conan shrugged, taking his seat once more and going back to sneaking nibbles at Shinichi's tart.

Shinichi sighed. "Okay, but you make me feel like a narcissistic pedophile."

"Can't do anything about the first—after all, we've always been in love with ourself—but if it makes you feel any better, I'll be all grown up in a few years."

Shinichi smiled softly at the younger version of himself. He reached across the table and tussled the boy's hair. "At least you'll never get sick of hearing me talk about Sherlock Holmes."

"And we'll never fight over what to watch on TV," Conan seconded. "We'll always want to see the same thing at the movies, and I'm a cheaper date because I don't eat as much and you only have to pay kiddie price for me at some places. Also, you don't have to worry about forgetting my birthday because I'll always forget yours too, so we'll never fight about it! Plus, I'll never karate smash your face in or kick you through a wall."

"I knew I loved me," Shinichi sighed happily.

…

Mikau: And there you have it. Actually, the thing with making the deal with Akako is a fic I did several years ago called The Price of a Future. It's a KaiShin piece…or rather KaiCo since Shinichi and Conan become different people, but yeah. I don't know if it's worth reading. It's old. Anyway! Next chapter the prompt was: a beach, a ring, and a surprise revealing…which I turned into total crack with Kaito burying Heiji in the sand and sculpting a mermaid body for him. Heiji and Kaito squabble over Shinichi, Hakuba wonders why he hangs out with idiots, and then Akako and Sonoko scheme and plot to get Sera into a bikini…before moving on to world domination. I'm not kidding. I have a feeling that that is as far divorced from what the prompter originally had in mind as mayonnaise is from chocolate. But look forward to it!


	11. dragonsandmagic

Mikau: Hello all! Today we have crack-y insanity in which the DCMK gang goes to the beach. Kaito and Heiji engage in antics much to Conan and Hakuba's chagrin and Akako and Sonoko team up to put Sera in a bikini…and then move on to world domination. Characters include: Kaito, Heiji, Conan, Hakuba, Akako, Sonoko, Sera, and Ran, and to a lesser extent: Kazuha, Aoko, and Keiko. Thanks so much to reviewers from last time: The Midnight Dream, Hebiaczek, and Lady Rosencrantz!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by dragonsandmagic on Poirot Café.

…

 **dragonsandmagic: Prompt: A beach, a ring, and a surprise revealing.**

"This is the worst," Kaito grumbled as he finished sculpting the giant seashells to cover up the enormous, too anatomically correct breasts he had created out of sand for Heiji after burying the Osakan detective in the first place.

"Ya mean my rack or th' beach in general?" Heiji peeked one eye open to look up in suspicion at Kaito.

"Oh. The beach," Kaito was quick to assure. "Your boobs look awesome."

"Good." Heiji seemed satisfied with that and went back to enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face and the feeling of the sand…well… _everywhere_. He'd be cleaning it out of nooks and crannies for the next month, but…

"You two are so inappropriate," Conan sighed, adjusting his sunglasses.

Heiji grinned. "Heeey, Kudo. Check out my nice body, huh?"

Kaito hissed like a cat. "Back off. I saw him first, Hei-chan."

"Oh did ya now?" Heiji sent his rival a glare of challenge.

"Yeah. I seem to remember meeting a certain Kudo Shinichi at a clock tower heist before he even became Conan," Kaito bragged.

Heiji menaced (as well as he could while buried neck-deep in sand that had been made to look like a well-endowed mermaid) up at Kaito. "Well, I almost ran int' 'im back in middle school on a ski slope. We were workin' on th' same case and just missed each other again and again."

Kaito frowned, eager to one-up his friend. "Well, our parents engaged us to one another before we were even born, so top that!"

"That was before they found out we were both boys," Conan himself broke in, fed up with the pissing contest that was being held in his honor. "Now shut up before the girls come back and you ruin my cover."

Heiji smirked, turning his head back to Kaito. "You know, I bet I found out about Kudo's secret identity before ya."

"Enough!" Conan shouted, throwing an inflatable pool ring at Heiji and hitting Kaito's intricate sand sculpture instead.

"I spent five hours on that," Kaito whimpered.

"You did not, Kuroba," Hakuba sighed, finally growing weary of the stupidity and looking up from his book. "It took you maybe twenty minutes to bury the buffoon with his help, and you just spent another twenty sculpting initially. When I told you that the chest was far too well done to be appropriate at a public beach, you spent an additional five minutes sculpting seashells for covering. Therefore, it has not been five hours."

"Well, it felt like five hours. Now I'm bored. Let's go find the girls." Kaito quickly got over his distress.

Heiji shrugged and wiggled out of the already ruined mermaid sand sculpture in order to fall in step behind Kaito.

Hakuba and Conan shared a look and a tired sigh before jogging a bit to catch up to the other two.

They headed up the beach back to where the little shops and the eateries and the public restrooms had been. They found the girls—Ran, Kazuha, Aoko, Keiko, Sonoko, and Akako—all gathered around one of the changing stalls where Akako and Sonoko seemed to be orchestrating events while the rest of the group watched in a bit of a mix of interest and horror. It was as if they weren't quite sure if they should be helping, and, if so, whom exactly they should be helping.

The person inside of the stall—presumably Sera as she was the only one missing—seemed to be struggling while Sonoko and Akako—both with decidedly evil, mischievous grins—seemed to be taking turns…inflicting some kind of torture? The approaching boys couldn't see very well.

The spectators stepped aside as the boys approached, and Ran was kind enough to fill them in: "Sonoko and Akako-chan are trying to get Sera-san to come out and reveal the new swimming suit that they bought for her, but Sera-san doesn't want to."

"O-Oh?" Hakuba remarked with an interest that he couldn't quite mask.

"Yes!" Sonoko jumped in once she noticed their presence. "Akako-chan and I went shopping and picked out the perfect bikini! Isn't that right, Akako-chan?" Sonoko practically beamed at the witch.

"B-Bikini?" Saguru stuttered.

Akako smiled brightly…and yet somehow sinisterly. "Yes. Bikini. With our forces combined, nothing can stand in our way. We present to you the new and improved Sera Masumi."

And at that moment, Sonoko flung the poor detective out of the changing stall, sending her stumbling right into Saguru's arms.

Bare skin met bare chest, and faces turned ruby red faster than you could blink.

The pair, of course, pulled away, completely flustered as soon as they regained some sense of self, but the telling blushes stuck with them. Sera couldn't meet his eyes, and Saguru could barely glance at her to get a look at her suit.

The others laughed and cooed, mocked and praised as Saguru somehow managed to tell Masumi that the boy shorts and the bandeau style top really worked for her. They were attractive without showing too much skin.

To that, Sera thanked him and replied that she'd be able to rock a real bikini like Akako-chan or Sonoko-chan someday when her breasts finally came in.

The aforementioned schemers both smirked, high fiving in celebration as they considered their plan a great success.

"We do beautiful work together," Akako observed, rather pleased with the results of this collaboration.

"We should team up to take over the world," Sonoko suggested with a snicker, latching on to Akako's arm.

Akako smirked. "Yes. Yes we should."

And Akako began to plot the great things she would do with her new partner in crime. This week there would be shopping and eating cute pastries. Next week they would bring the world to its knees at their whims.

…

Mikau: Yes. That happened. Originally I was going to go with the obvious—a beach proposal scene—and I was thinking maybe I'd go with HakuSeraKai. Then I asked in chat on Poirot what pairing I should do, and I think it was kkrazy256 that said Sonoko x Akako. And that gave me the idea for this nonsense. Next up is Aoko x Akako.


	12. sgchan

Mikau: So…I disappeared for a while. I've been pretty depressed lately and feeling like my writing really sucks, and I feel like this Aoko x Akako piece is particularly bad, so I didn't want to post it because I don't think people are going to like it, and I can't take rejection right now. But keeping people waiting makes me really anxious because I worry that people will start hating me, so I posted this anyway. -.-; Characters include Aoko and Akako. Thanks a bunch to reviewers from last time: The Midnight Dream, Shana-Fujioka (times two), Lady Rosencrantz, GeekyGenius (times three), EverThePhantom, and mochiusagi.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by sgchan on Poirot Café.

…

 **sgchan: Aoko flirts with Akako, who is both confused and flustered by this.**

To Akako's knowledge, her charms only worked on males and lesbians. So the fact that Nakamori Aoko was making eyes at her and blushing and tripping over herself when she talked to Akako…was kind of confusing. But not entirely unpleasant either.

It just made matters complicated because Kaito was of the opinion that Akako had bewitched his childhood friend and crush, and Akako couldn't convince him otherwise. She couldn't make others act against their normal sexual inclinations, and that meant that Nakamori-san was either bi or lesbian.

Kaito just couldn't accept that. So tensions between them rose even more than usual, and that was a bummer because…even though she didn't want to admit it, Akako truly liked Kaito.

So Aoko's feelings were, to say the least, difficult to deal with for the witch, but… Now that she stopped to pay attention, Aoko's eyes were really pretty, and it was cute how earnest she could be about something she truly believed in, no matter how trivial to others. Aoko was cute in general, and when Aoko came up to Akako and asked her to sit with her at lunch and go to such and such place after school…Akako blushed and said yes.

Because Aoko was slowly growing on her and knocking down her barriers. Aoko was slowly melting Akako's resolve with her cute little sleeping face and her stupid happy grin.

Aoko was slowly changing Akako's mind, so when two months later Aoko asked Akako to go out on a date with her, instead of laughing and turning her down, Akako blushed, squirmed in her seat, and softly whispered "Yes".

…

Mikau: Yeah. -.-; Well, I think the next one is good, at least. Next up is an AU where Kaito is a girl and Shinichi is more than just a little interested. See you then.


	13. silvercyanide

Mikau: TwT No one hated last chapter! I am so, so happy! Thank you very much to everyone who wrote in and supported me last time: Eve Of The Stars, LLL TengokuHana, oreioreo, Blue Waters 52, Lady Rosencrantz, Hebiaczek, Lil-Blizz, Shana-Fujioka, neonquincy1217 (times three), Ymc (Thanks so much!), and Kimmiko T. Sorry I haven't been updating this regularly. I still need to reply to literally 25 PMs too. -.-; Sorry. I'm feeling like emotional sludge lately, and I just can't seem to motivate myself to do anything. I feel bad for not getting around to it, but even thinking about editing/updating/replying to messages is draining. Hopefully I start feeling better soon. :I

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by silvercyanide on Poirot Café.

…

 **silvercyanide: my prompt is an AU where Kaito is a girl and Shinichi is more than just a little interested.**

Kuroba Kaito was the cutest girl at Beika University, and up until yesterday she had been dating the local big man on campus, that rich foreigner Hakuba Saguru.

But yesterday they had broken up. Or so rumor said, anyway, and Kudo Shinichi was just dying to be the first guy to sweep her off of her feet, ask her out, and heal her broken heart.

Shinichi had been tripping over himself for Kaito since the very first day they had met back in April at the opening ceremony. They'd somehow ended up next to each other, and Kaito had made a snide remark about the color of the welcome banners that she somehow managed to weave into a clever reference to The Great Gatsby followed by a criticism of literary critics always dwelling too much on the color of the curtains. "Sometimes the red curtains aren't actually a subconscious reference by the author to their incestuous feelings for their mother." Shinichi could barely contain his laughter and was thenceforth hopelessly in love.

But he'd always had a rival—Hakuba Saguru—who was also a detective. Kaito and Hakuba had gone to the same high school, so they'd come in already a couple. And what a couple they were! Hakuba was handsome, exotic, smart, and witty while Kaito was beautiful, brilliant, hilarious, and just plain fun to be around. They had such a good relationship too. They could have been a comic duo with their back and forth, and you could really tell that they both enjoyed the other's retorts. For them, verbal sparring matches were equivalent to foreplay. So long as Hakuba was in the picture, Shinichi knew that he never stood a chance.

And so Shinichi firmly established himself in Kaito's friend zone in order to gain unquestioned access to her even while she wasn't available. He wasn't her best friend—that honor belonged to Nakamori Aoko closely followed by Suzuki Sonoko and Sera Masumi respectively—but he was close. And while she was taken, he worked on building a strong relationship with her, trying to establish a solid base so that when the time came, he would be ready to step in.

He'd actually been contemplating confessing lately since it had been two whole years and Hakuba and Kaito still seemed to be going strong. Kaito had been showing some signs of interest when the two had been alone together, so Shinichi had been thinking that it might be worth a shot.

But then Shinichi had struck gold when Hakuba broke up with Kaito the previous evening. Shinichi heard about it from Sonoko during first period, and so he hustled after class to the little alcove courtyard between the two buildings comprising the library where he knew Kaito often went after the first class of the day.

He burst out into the courtyard, desperately hoping that, one, Kaito would actually be there, and, two, that Kaito had yet to accept anyone else's confession.

Kaito looked up as Shinichi flung open the door, her face red and splotchy, streaked with tears. "H-Hey, Shin-chan," she hiccupped.

This gave Shinichi pause because he'd been so happy when he'd heard the news. It had never occurred to him that for Kaito this was a tragedy. He had never thought he'd find her so absolutely distraught.

He sighed, all of the air going out of him along with his sense of triumph…because the woman he loved was seriously hurting.

Shinichi sat down on the bench beside her and put an arm around her. "Come here," he whispered, resting his head on top of hers and pulling her into a side hug. "It's okay, Kai-chan. It's gonna be okay."

She choked on a sob, tears coming with renewed vengeance.

"I'm here for you. And the rest of your friends too. We're all here, so just let us know what you need, okay?" He gave her a gentle squeeze, putting his romantic feelings aside and concentrating on his duty to her as a friend. "We're gonna get you through this."

"Thanks, Shin-chan," she whispered weakly, weeping openly into the side of his neck.

"That's what friends are for," he replied, honestly meaning the words.

Maybe once she was healed…maybe then they could be something more. If he truly loved her, he could do at least that much. She was worth the wait.

…

Mikau: Well, typically I don't like gender swaps (unless done for comic effect), but I think this worked pretty well. Of course, it would have been fine if Kaito were still a boy too, but the prompt was for fem!Kaito, so… Anyway! Next time is my attempt at SeRan, and I like it a _whole_ lot better than my Aoko x Akako piece. I actually think it turned out really well, so I hope you'll look forward to it!


	14. Darkest Absol

Mikau: Greetings! And thank you so much to the fabulous people who reviewed last time: Lady Rosencrantz, Eve of the Stars, Kimmiko T, ForgetfulDaffodil, Loner Kid, Shana-Fujioka, patternleap, and Flesh Delirium. Today we have my attempt at SeRan! …You know, reading back over this, maybe it's not as good as I originally thought. Or maybe I'm just a really bad judge of my own work. -.-; Well, I won't worry about it and just let _you_ be the judge. How's that sound? Terrific! Let's do it!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by Darkest Absol on Poirot Café.

…

 **Darkest Absol: Can my prompt be fluffy Sera/Ran?**

When Sera Masumi head-butted and broke the wrist of a guy who had been trying to grope Ran on a train, the karate champion began to think that maybe Sera-san was kind of cool.

Sera railed at the guy and then gave a little snort of outrage at the injustice. She took off her hat and sighed as she raked a hand through her hair, and that only added to Ran's impression that her classmate was secretly some action movie star.

Seeming to remember that she was being observed, Sera gave a little start, and she turned back to Ran with that goofy, cheerful grin that was starting to look refreshing to Ran.

"You okay, Ran-chan?" Sera inquired out of concern for her friend, and Ran appreciated the gentlemanly gesture.

She nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for that, Sera-san."

"No problem!" Sera assured with that same bubbly smile.

And it sort of made Ran's heart beat a little faster.

…

Shinichi never called anymore. On the off chance he did, it was always to say that he was _still_ busy with the case after _four_ years! And she was _so_ fed up with the same excuses.

Hadn't he said that he loved her? Was _this_ love? It sure didn't feel like it. Ran felt like she was being strung along, and while all of her friends and classmates were finding true love and getting engaged, Ran still hadn't gotten her first kiss.

Her life was passing her by as she waited for a guy that she wasn't so sure was actually coming back to her anymore.

Ran was crying silent tears of frustration and anger, gripping her phone, about ready to smash it against the wall when Sera Masumi walked into the apartment.

The two young women froze in surprise at the sight of one another.

Sera found her voice first. "S-Sorry. I—Sonoko-chan said to come on up and get the textbook on the sofa myself because the door was open, so I…" She bit her lip, and her brow furrowed as she really saw what was going on. "Is it Kudo-kun again?"

Ran winced, closing her eyes, trying to shut out the pain.

"Do you want to talk about it, Ran-chan, or do you want to be left alone?" Sera softly inquired. "'Cause either way, I want you to know that I'm here for you, okay? If you need help, if you just want to talk it out…"

"Oh, Sera-san!" Ran cried, breaking down and dropping to her knees as she let it all out.

"Hey, hey," Sera called softly, hopping over the back of the couch to get to Ran faster.

She knelt on the floor beside her friend, wrapping her arms around the bawling Ran and letting Ran cry on her shoulder.

They stayed like that for a good ten minutes before Ran calmed down enough to be persuaded up off her knees and onto the couch. And then they sat there together for another hour or so as Ran intermittently cried and explained everything she had been going through with Shinichi over the past four years.

Sera listened and held her and let her cry it out in turns, stroking Ran's hair and dabbing at her face with a handkerchief at appropriate intervals. She spoke soothing words and all of the usual empty platitudes while Ran was going through the worst of it, but when Ran calmed down enough to speak to rationally, Sera suggested, "You know, Ran-chan…even though you and Kudo-kun have all of this history together, have you ever thought that maybe he's not the one you need to be spending your future with?"

Ran froze and blinked. Clearly the thought had never crossed her mind.

"Ran-chan, you are one heck of an amazing woman, and you are _wasted_ on that guy. Kudo-kun may be a good man, Ran-chan—he may be cool and heroic and funny and handsome—but if he's such a sucky boyfriend to you, why are you still wasting your time on him? You can still be friends with him when he has the decency to drop in on you, but I really think you need to dump his ass and find someone who's gonna be there for you. Love isn't something that you do on your own. You need two people to make a relationship work, and if he's never around, you don't have a real partnership anyway, so…"

Sera frowned, biting her lip, as if conflicted about whether to go on or not. "Look, Ran-chan. I care about you a lot. You're really precious to me, and I can't stand seeing this guy treating your heart like garbage. You're special, and you need to be with someone who treats you that way, so…don't hate me, but I really do think you need to move on."

And in that moment Ran made up her mind. The look in Sera's eye, the love and concern that was there…the way Sera held her and called her precious… Ran wanted that always. _That_ was what she had been craving in a romantic partner.

"I do too," Ran whispered, leaning in and placing a hesitant kiss to Sera's lips.

To her immense surprise, Sera didn't recoil in disgust. Instead, the olive-eyed girl leaned into the kiss, deepening it as she put the force of her own feelings behind it.

"Then I'd be delighted to help you with that," Sera whispered, cupping Ran's cheek and kissing her silly all over again.

…

Mikau: Well, I hope you liked it. Next up, Conan and Kaito go on an outing, and Conan can't enjoy it because he's too busy waiting for this episode's crime to happen. Look forward to it!


	15. dogfish44

Mikau: Hello everyone! Today Conan and Kaito go on an outing and Conan is too busy looking out for corpses that he can't properly enjoy anything. Thanks a bunch to everyone who reviewed last time: Eve Of The Stars, Kimmiko T, neonquincy1217 (times two), D (Oh my gosh! How ARE you?! Yes, I have missed you! …Is that weird? I mean, I always enjoyed your flames. And you know, I think I owe you an apology because after all this time I've finally realized you were right. I really should have killed Lyserg, that little vermin. You take care now!), EverThePhantom, and Loner Kid. Hopefully I'll be updating a little more regularly. I've only got five more of these to go.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by dogfish44 on Poirot Café.

…

 **dogfish44: "For a change, nobody died."**

It was like living directly below a very inconsiderate lumberjack who liked to take his rather clunky boots off one at a time in the dead of night. One boot crashing to the floor would jar Shinichi awake, and then he'd be stuck waiting for the other shoe to drop.

That was how Shinichi felt on Conan's day out with "cousin Kaito". Shinichi was just waiting for a body to hit the floor.

Any minute now.

Because that was the way it _always_ was any time he tried to leave the house. Heck, sometimes he didn't even get that far. Sometimes people broke into the detective agency and killed others or a murder would occur downstairs at Poirot.

He went to the beach, and if someone wasn't nefariously drowned… He attended a cooking class with Sonoko and Ran, and someone was inevitably poisoned. Shinichi couldn't attend a party, a movie screening, or even a camping trip without tripping over a corpse. Such was his lot in life. It didn't matter if he went to Hokkaido or Okinawa, some kind of murder, kidnapping, or otherwise heinous plot was sure to follow.

And so Shinichi was justifiably expecting to run into some kind of crime today on his outing with Kaito.

Any minute now.

He was just waiting for someone to collapse at the diner where he and Kaito had breakfast, and with every bank they passed on their downtown stroll, Shinichi was only that much more certain that out of the next one would burst armed robbers, just waiting to involve him in that week's hostage situation.

At the amusement park, he was on the edge, straining his ears to differentiate the screams of those having a lovely adrenaline rush from those being brutally murdered.

"Hey, Shin-chan?" Kaito called softly as the fireworks went off overhead. "Are you okay? You seem a little…tense."

Conan shook his head. "It's just…usually by this time of day I've run into at least one case, but…so far, nothing's happened."

Kaito gave him the most deadpan stare. "Because it's normal to run into crime every day on your way to the corner bakery."

Conan frowned, fidgeting a bit under Kaito's unwavering gaze. "Dead bodies _are_ normal for me."

"And that's exactly why 'cousin Kaito' is dragging you out on these little field trips. Because you need a serious break from all of the icky deceased stuff in your life," Kaito snorted, shaking his head in barely concealed disbelief.

"It's not like I ask for these things to happen around me," Conan grumbled.

Kaito patted him on the head like a trusty bloodhound. "I know. But that doesn't change the fact that you run _towards_ all the crazy evil stuff the minute that someone screams."

As if on cue, a scream was heard in the background.

Conan's ears perked up, but the scream was soon identified as coming from some prepubescent boy going through the haunted house. Conan relaxed and tuned back into what Kaito was saying.

Kaito was currently wearing an "I told you so. Didn't I tell you so? You've just proven my point rather nicely. Thank you." expression.

Conan crossed his arms and sulked.

"Just enjoy the fireworks, Shin-chan," Kaito gently coaxed.

And so Shinichi did. Or at least he tried. He was a little jumpy the rest of the night, but between the bouts of suspicion and apprehension that came on whenever anyone in the vast crowd so much as reached into their inside chest pocket, Shinichi actually managed to enjoy himself a little.

Ten thirty came, and Conan was safely deposited back on the doorstep of the Mouri Detective Agency. Kaito waved goodbye, and that brought Conan's day out to a close.

Shinichi had left the building, and, for a change, nobody died.

Just then, from the restaurant below, Conan heard Azusa let out a high-pitched scream.

That was followed, presumably, by Amuro bursting through the door leading back into the kitchen to call in unmasked concern, "Azusa-san?! What's wrong?!"

Azusa predictably answered that he—whoever "he" happened to be this time—was dead.

Of course he was. Because Shinichi was cursed. He'd only been spared the entire day thanks to Kaito's miraculous luck. Clearly Shinichi needed to bottle the magician or find some pretext for always having him around.

But for now, he needed to get downstairs because there was yet another murder to solve.

…

Mikau: Because someone _always_ dies. Anyway. I'm looking forward to the next one. It's ichthyophobia's prompt: Space!AU. The KAITOU KID is a legendary starship known for evading every authority. Kuroba Kaito is its new captain. (Bonus points for Jii as an AI.) …And I had fun with it! ^-^ So look forward to it.


	16. ichthyophobia

Mikau: Hey there, guys. Today we have a Space AU with Kaito and Jii-chan. I really like this one, so I hope you have fun reading it. By the way, thanks to those who reviewed last chapter: Hebiaczek, Shana-Fujioka, Eve Of The Stars, Kimmiko T, neonquincy1217, and Lady Rosencrantz. Sorry I haven't been replying to reviews. I just don't have the energy to talk to people at the moment. -.-; I am slowly getting better, though. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by ichthyophobia on Poirot Café.

…

 **ichthyophobia: Space!AU. The KAITOU KID is a legendary starship known for evading every authority. Kuroba Kaito is its new captain. (Bonus points for Jii as an AI.)**

"Oh, come _on_!" Kaito hissed, giving the control panel a sound kick. "Some legendary scourge of the galaxy. This ship is a piece of sh—"

"—Young Master! _Please_. Watch your language!" the ship's AI chirped in alarm.

Kaito held his tongue, but he glared obscenities at the floating head that _still_ insisted on treating him like he was eight years old.

"Young Master," it scolded.

"Fine. But this ship is still a piece of you know what, Jii-chan. It's gonna take a lot of work to even get it to be _half_ as awesome as it was when Dad was the captain. I was kind of expecting more out of a legend. As it stands, I'm gonna have to rebuild over a quarter of the insides before I'll even be able to get it off the ground."

Jii pursed his lips and managed to look awfully hurt for a hologram. "Young Master, do keep in mind that it has been eight whole years since the KAITOU KID last had a captain, a crew, or any maintenance to speak of. I've been piloting it around the galaxy by myself in search of your father these past eight years since he disappeared somewhere near the rings of Freya, and I have to say that I did the very best I could. It's not my fault I'm only an AI. I don't have any hands, Young Master. I couldn't do anything to care for the KID, and I was forced to fly around blindly, alone, suffering and worrying about what had become of your father, what would become of me!"

Kaito let the computer program cry it out, giving vent to all of the woes and worries that had befallen him over the past decade. Kaito really did feel bad for Jii-chan, but he was much more concerned with getting the KID back in working order and setting off to find his father than bothering with his AI's sob story.

Still… "You're a good man, Jii-chan, to keep going, keep searching for my old man for so long."

"Young Master…" Jii smiled as happy tears bubbled up at the corners of his eyes, and Kaito could tell that his words meant a lot to the old man.

Frankly, Kaito was surprised that Jii was still functioning and that the KID hadn't run out of power sooner, but he didn't think that Jii would appreciate his comments, so he kept them to himself and continued working.

"You did a good job, Jii-chan," he assured as he took a look at the wiring (that could be described as "shoddy" at best and "held together by duct tape" at worst) and winced. "We'll get the KID up and running again, and then we'll go find my old man."

"Right!" the old assistant cheered with all the enthusiasm of a man fifty years his junior. "Just let me know how I can help, Young Master!"

Kaito bit his lip to keep the grimace from showing on his face. "Uh…why don't you put on some smooth jazz for starters?"

"Aye aye, Captain!" Jii responded eagerly, flipping through radio frequencies until he found a suitable jazz station.

Kaito chuckled with a grin. He really liked the sound of that. "Captain". Like his father. He could only hope to be worthy of the title someday.

…

Mikau: Well, I hope you liked it. I'm actually really pleased with this one. ^.^; Next up is the good ole "Kaito shrinks too and comes to live with the Mouris". Cliched, yes, but I added some Mikau style to it, so maybe it'll be okay. ^.^; Look forward to it?


	17. kiddosama

Mikau: Hello again, guys. Today we have Mikau's take on Kaito shrinking and coming to live with the Mouris. Thanks a bunch to reviewers from last time: Lady Rosencrantz, Eve of the Stars, Shana-Fujioka, and Kimmiko T. My health is gradually improving, so thank you for all of the well-wishes. A new round of prompt exchanges is going on on Poirot Café right now, so maybe I'll be motivated to add to this collection soon. I still have three more from the first round to post, though. ^.^; Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by kiddosama on Poirot Café.

…

 **kiddosama: an AU where Kid shrinks during the Conan era and has to live with the Mōri family (for whatever reasons the author decides ).**

"What do they think this is? A halfway house?" Mouri snorted over his morning paper.

"Daaaad," Ran chided. "Shh. You'll make Touya-kun feel bad," she hissed in what probably seemed like a whisper to her but was still perfectly audible to Kaito…er…Touya.

"It's fine," the shrunken thief sighed, swirling the tofu chunks in his miso round and round the bowl. "I'll be outta here soon, so don't worry."

"Touya-kun, you can stay as long as you like until your mom is well enough that she can come for you," Ran assured, coming over and giving Kaito…Touya a big-sisterly pat on the head.

"Thanks, Ran-neechan." He looked up at her with an earnest grin. "You've been really good to me. It's made…all this…a lot easier."

By "all this", Ran thought that he meant his mother's car accident. That was the cover story. Tsukishima Touya was a poor, fatherless child, alone in the world except for his mother…and his super distant cousins of sorts, the Edogawas…and along with that necessarily came some weird, twice- and thrice- removed relationships with Professor Agasa, Haibara Ai, and the Kudo family as well.

The family tree seemed to spring some new offshoot every month. By the end of the year, Conan was going to be remotely related to half of Beika if he had to keep making up all of these lies about relations.

…But, in all reality, by "all this", Kuroba Kaito really meant his being attacked by Snake, force-fed some weird poison, and somehow shrunk to the size of a grade-schooler.

"It's okay, Touya-kun," Ran assured, chipper as always when dealing with children. "You're welcome, and we'd be more than happy to have you stay here as long as you need."

Touya swirled his tofu counter-clockwise around the bowl once more for good measure before beginning to swirl the other direction.

It had all happened so fast for Kaito. He'd woken up tiny in some back alley dumpster, and he'd trudged his way to Beika, to the Professor's house—the only place he was sure to be safe.

Shaking like a newborn kitten, he'd sat in the corner and waited for Conan to arrive. His rival had been unexpectedly kind, and Kaito had found himself with a warm pair of clothes that actually fit, a new name, and a place to stay until they figured it all out.

"I mean…I guess I can't go home like this, can I?" Kaito muttered hollowly as Conan led the dejected thief back to the Detective Agency by the hand.

"It's going to be okay, Kid," Conan assured. "You'll adjust."

And Kaito had adjusted…sort of. A week into his tenure as Touya, he was dealing with things a lot better than Shinichi originally had as Conan. Kaito and Shinichi had arranged for Kuroba Kaito to disappear far more smoothly than Kudo Shinichi had, so no friends should question Kaito suddenly going off to preform internationally, and his mother had been notified, so there should be no weird kidnapping scenarios where "Touya's" mom unexpectedly showed up, so they thought they were in the clear.

That was…until one day about a week and a half into Touya's staying with the Mouris. There was a knock on the door halfway through breakfast, and Ran went to answer it while the boys kept chomping groggily on their omelets.

Snippets of Ran's conversation with their visitor were audible. Among them were: "A friend of mine disappeared a little over a week ago, and I believe he may have contacted Conan-kun for help."

"Of course. Come in," Ran responded, and suddenly Hakuba Saguru was standing there in the front room.

Touya gaped at him even as Hakuba gawked right back. The blonde, however, was the first to recover. Hakuba's shock turned into a grin of relief. He sighed and smiled, whispering, "Thank goodness. _There_ you are."

…

Mikau: Well, I think that went okay. Next up we have Conan taking care of a sick Ran, and in her delirium she becomes convinced that Conan is really Shinichi. Look forward to it!


	18. Elirius

Mikau: Hi there everybody! Here's the next installment. Today we have Ran sick with the flu and somehow becoming convinced that Conan is Shinichi turned into a child. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last time: Lady Rosencrantz, Eve Of The Stars, Shana-Fujioka, Kimmiko T, and Era-Penn! Okay. Here we go.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by Elirius on Poirot Café.

…

 **Elirius: Ran is sick with the flu and Conan has to take care of her for the day, until Mouri returns home. Delirious Ran thinks Conan is Shinichi turned into a child.**

Shinichi had never really nursed anyone when they were sick before. He'd been nursed plenty of times, but when it actually came to nursing…was he supposed to put a cold cloth on her head, or was he supposed to be keeping her warm? Should he be feeding her rice gruel, or was this a chicken noodle soup occasion? Should he go get ice cubes for her to suck on or…?

Ran had the flu, and Shinichi was absolutely clueless. He could have taken care of her if it had been a gunshot wound (God forbid), but the flu… It didn't matter if he were Conan or Shinichi, he was equally useless in this situation. The only advantage height would have given him in his current trial would have been the ability to reach into the medicine cabinet without the use of a stepstool. And really, that wasn't a big deal.

He could not _wait_ for Old Man Mouri to get home…words he never thought he'd ever say…so that the other detective could help take care of Ran. Though, Shinichi somehow doubted that that joker would be able to offer much assistance. Well, at the very least, Mouri would be able to drive Ran to the doctor's, right? If he wasn't too drunk, that was.

Shinichi sighed at the futility of his circumstances.

"Shinichi?" Ran called softly, making the shrunken detective jump.

He flew to her side before fully realizing what had just happened.

She blinked deliriously at him, seeming confused.

"Ran-neechan? Did you need something? Does it hurt anywhere?" he softly ministered to her.

"Shinichi…" She squinted at him, reaching out clumsily and cupping his cheek. "Shinichi, you got turned into a little kid!"

All he could do was stand there and stare at her with his mouth hanging open. He was almost tempted to laugh because in her fever-scorched mind she had stumbled upon the truth…again, but we weren't counting those suspicions she was periodically harboring, were we? No.

"Ran-neechan, it's me. It's Conan," he tried to persuade her, but like a stubborn child, she insisted that he was really Kudo Shinichi shrunk into the body of a grade school child.

Conan had to explain this delusion to Mouri when he came home (thankfully more sober than usual).

The detective stared at him blandly and then shook his head. "'Cause you two look kind of similar, but… Geez. She really must be sick because that's just ridiculous. I mean, you're a hundred times better than that loser detective brat," his benefactor reported with a snort.

Shinichi wasn't really sure how to take that. He decided on replying with a neutral "Thanks" and then focused his efforts on helping Mouri get Ran out into the rental car so that they could take her to the doctor.

Hopefully Ran wouldn't remember any of this and have renewed suspicions of him in the morning.

…

Mikau: So yeah. ^.^; Sorry. I feel like I'm not really good at writing Ran and Conan together unless something tragic and heartbreaking is going on. Anyway! Next chapter we have, actually, kind of a really intense chapter where Kaito has a breakdown after the Nightmare heist and Hakuba tracks him down and takes care of him. So look forward to that. I really hope to have these done before Christmas so that I can start on Prompt Exchange #2 fics. There will be eleven of those if I can manage. See you soon!


	19. kkrazy256

Mikau: Hi guys! Thanks a bunch to reviewers from last time: Eve Of The Stars, Kimmiko T, and Lady Rosencrantz! Today we have Kaito having a breakdown after the Nightmare heist. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by kkrazy256 on Poirot Café.

…

 **kkrazy256: All the pressure of suppressing emotions/being Kid finally makes Kaito crack and break down. Preferably at a heist where someone sees.**

Saguru was completely torn. On one hand, he needed to be there to fill out paperwork and take care of a little boy who had just lost his father and was probably going to end up traumatized for life. It was his duty to make sure that this child was cared for and protected. He needed be there to use his influence, to make sure that things were done properly.

On the other hand, he needed to find Kuroba Kaito _**NOW**_.

Knowing the magician, he was probably catatonic in one way or another. Saguru wasn't sure if it would be better to find his classmate curled up in a ball in some back alley sobbing and wailing his heart out or if it would be worse to find Kuroba with that damn poker face clamped down so tightly that it appeared as if Kaito didn't feel a thing.

Either way, if Kuroba was letting his feelings out or keeping them bottled up tightly, the magician _needed_ someone to be there for him. To make sure he ate and slept and didn't lose his mind as he blamed himself for Nightmare's death. Kaito needed someone to take care of him, and who did he have that he could count on?

No one. His mother was probably off having an excellent time in some foreign country, and the Nakamoris wouldn't be able to understand without opening up a whole other can of worms, so…all that left was an elderly servant…and Hakuba Saguru.

The young detective looked around at all of the officers surrounding him. He saw Aoko sitting over in a patrol car, rocking young Kenta, holding him to her chest as he wept and shrieked.

Saguru smiled weakly, deeply moved by the scene. That poor child…and good old Aoko.

He headed over to them and softly greeted, "Hey. How's it going?"

Aoko shook her head. Her own eyes were red and puffy, the remnants of tears still clinking to her lashes.

He bit his lip, hating to ask, but… "Aoko-kun, can you take care of him? Take him home with you tonight and watch over him? I know it's a lot, but…can I ask you to?"

Aoko nodded resolutely, seeming almost offended that he even had to ask. "Absolutely," she assured.

Saguru's smile widened, eyes softening. "Thank you. I know I can count on you Aoko-kun. …You're a remarkable woman."

He gave her a quick pat on the arm, and he was off, racing down the streets towards the Kuroba abode

He checked the alleys along the way, but he saw nothing. He tried to persuade himself that it was better that way, that Kaito had made it home before he'd started to shut down.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he found the front door to the Kuroba house standing open. He was trying to think positively: the open door meant that Kaito had made it home…but he was in such an altered state of mind that he hadn't had the presence of mind to shut the door behind him. That was bad. Or maybe there had been a break-in!

Saguru had to mentally kick himself. It was so easy for his mind to focus on the worst case scenario. He tried desperately to tell himself that this was a good thing because it meant that Kaito wasn't lying in some dumpster somewhere, lost, alone, and mentally falling to pieces. Kaito was home, and Saguru was there now to make things better…marginally better? Hopefully better.

He wouldn't know until he tried, and Saguru was determined to try all night, if that's what it took.

Saguru took a deep breath and let himself in, calling out for Kaito and then listening hard as he toed off his shoes. He needn't have strained his ears. Kaito's hiccups and mutterings were perfectly audible, coming from the living room, just down the main entrance hall.

He found the poor, broken magician lying in a heap on the living room floor, half in and half out of his Kid uniform. Everything but the pants and the blue dress shirt had been taken off and left lying about the house in a trail leading back towards the kitchen. So there was his long-sought proof…and at the moment, he didn't give a damn about it.

He called out to Kaito again, but the magician didn't hear him…couldn't hear him? Still, Saguru approached slowly, not wanting to alarm the already agitated thief.

"Kuroba," he called experimentally, inching closer.

"…Kaito?" he tried again with no success.

"Kaito?" he reached out and tentatively touched the thie—his friend, but Kaito didn't respond.

That was when Saguru started to get scared. He had honestly been expecting Kuroba to jump ten feet in the air like a startled cat complete with hissing and curses and…at least _some_ acknowledgement of the contact.

If Kaito was so far gone that he wasn't even reacting to touch…

Saguru shivered and then pushed all negative thoughts from his mind. He needed to concentrate on Kaito.

Gradually and gingerly Saguru worked on adding touch. He started by reaching out once more and lightly resting his hand on Kaito's arm for just a few seconds, and then he left it on a little longer, a little longer… Within the hour, he had Kaito curled up in a ball, situated between Saguru's legs with his head resting on Saguru's chest.

Saguru held him and rocked him and smoothed his hair, whispering pretty lies about how it was all going to be okay.

Slowly Kaito's ramblings started to get more coherent even though Kaito still remained completely unconscious of Saguru's presence. But Saguru heard his friend mumble about how it had been his own fault that Nightmare was dead, his fault because he'd become Kid. He shouldn't have done that. He should have gone to the police, but he didn't, and now it was his fault and he had to lie to everyone. He had to lie to Aoko and his friends and everyone he cared about. And he hated it. He wanted to stop, but he couldn't, but he couldn't go on like this any longer.

Saguru did his best to argue with the magician, to answer his accusations and refute his claims.

Soon Kaito started arguing back. Still he cried and remained largely limp in Saguru's arms, but he was gradually responding more and more.

Just about an hour before the sun rose, Kaito's tears dried up, and he sat in silence.

At first Saguru was afraid that he'd lost Kaito, but it soon became apparent that instead of retreating further into himself, Kaito was, instead, coming out of it.

It was about seven twenty in the morning when Kaito blinked and actually looked at Saguru, seemingly confused as to why he was sitting on his living room floor still half in his uniform and wrapped up in the detective's loose embrace.

"H-Hakuba?" Kaito blinked owlishly at him.

"Good morning," Saguru greeted, deliriously happy at the cognizant, unclouded look in Kaito's eyes. "Are you feeling all right?"

Kaito tried to take in his surroundings, but it was all too surreal. It must be a dream.

Saguru detangled himself from Kaito and slowly worked himself up to his feet. He then offered a hand up to Kaito (who absentmindedly took it) and helped the magician get steady on his feet.

Kaito looked around again. "What exactly…?"

Saguru shook his head. "You had a bad night. It's over now. Why don't you tidy up the living room a little before I see something I shouldn't? I'm going to go prepare some breakfast. Any food allergies? Foods you don't like?"

"Fish." Kaito shuddered, crinkling up his nose.

"All right." Saguru nodded and headed back towards the kitchen. He paused in the doorway and watched as Kaito looked around in a daze.

"Don't think about it for now, okay?" he encouraged the magician. "We'll talk about it later. For now…just tidy up a bit."

Kaito caught sight of his Kid cape tossed carelessly over the back of the couch and winced. "…Why…? How did…?"

Saguru shook his head and urged again, "Just don't think about it right now. _Later_ , Kuroba. After you've eaten."

Kaito shrugged and began to clean up with a sigh.

Saguru could only feel like this was the calm before the storm. He'd been given a small reprieve during which to brace himself for the coming impact…or maybe…things wouldn't be as bad as he imagined.

…

Mikau: Well, the next one is the twentieth and the last of the first round of prompt exchanges. Round two just finished up on Sunday on the Poirot Café forum, so I'll be writing elven more of these shortly. But the next one involves Shinichi shrinking in front of Kaito who doesn't know that Shinichi equals Tantei-kun. Look forward to it!


	20. Kaggami

Mikau: Happy New Year everybody! Here's starting off 2016 with the last of the Prompt Exchange 1 fics. (Don't worry. This isn't the end. I've still got all the fics in Prompt Exchange 2 to do.) In this installment, Kaito finds out that Conan equals Shinichi when Shinichi shrinks right in front of him at a heist. Thanks so much to reviewers from last time: Loner Kid, Eve Of The Stars, Shana-Fujioka, Flesh Delirium, and Kimmiko T! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by Kaggami on Poirot Café.

…

 **Kaggami: I want a fic where Shinichi gets turned into Conan in front of Kaito, who doesn´t know Shinichi is Conan.**

Kaito was an extremely loyal person. He had his detectives, and he didn't take kindly to anyone coming in and invading their turf, stepping on their toes. Like that Doron…Dolon…whatever his name was…-keiji or Ruby Jones (except Auntie Kitty turned out to be okay) or the guys from Interpol (one of whom turned out to be the bad guy) for example. Kaito was loyal to Nakamori and Hakuba and Tantei-kun.

So this Kudo Shinichi here tonight that was supposed to be some kind of cousin of Tantei-kun's…Kaito wasn't taking too kindly to him. He was an intruder. Kaito didn't invite _him_ ; he had sent out that riddle especially for Tantei-kun, and he resented the fact that this Kudo loser was taking all of the credit for solving it after Tantei-kun had supposedly shown it to him.

More like the bigger detective had bullied his little cousin, snatching the riddle and playing keep-away as Tantei-kun jumped and swiped at it until Tantei-kun finally agreed to tell Kudo the answer.

And now Kudo was here while Tantei-kun wasn't, and that kind of ticked Kaito off…so much so that Kid was going to be paying extra special attention to the newcomer, playing some of his favorite tricks.

It was about fifteen minutes before the heist was officially set to start, and the guy hosting the party in honor of the unveiling of the Purity Stone was just beginning his speech when Kudo Shinichi started to look unwell. Clutching his chest, he snuck off to the janitor's closet out in the hall, and, concerned, Kaito in disguise followed.

He opened the closet door just in time to witness Kudo Shinichi groaning in agony and letting off steam—literally!—until…he turned into Edogawa Conan.

Kaito stared in horror, mind completely blown at what he had just seen.

Conan…Kudo…gawked right back, looking terrified at what appeared to be a rather curvaceous young blonde who had happened to stumble upon his transformation.

Conan/Kudo's fright quickly evaporated when Kaito exclaimed in a very Kid-like voice, "Holy shit! Tantei-kun?!"

Recognizing his rival, Conan pulled Kaito into the closet with him and hissed, "Kid, you can't tell _anybody_ , understand? Not anyone!"

"But…What…?" Kaito made vague hand gestures, seeming to indicate the entirety of Conan's being. "How?"

"Long story," Conan sighed, burying his face in his hands.

"I have fifteen minutes before my heist." Kaito shrugged.

Conan took a minute to bang his head against the wall, but after he finished, he began, "It all started when I went to an amusement park with my childhood friend Ran…."

…

Mikau: Cue the theme music. *Kimi ga Ireba plays in the background* Okay. ANNOUNCEMENT: the first two installments in the Prompt Exchange 2 collection will be published as separate fics because they got a little ridiculously long considering these are _supposed_ to be little drabbles of 100-500 words. I'm planning on getting them up later today, but they're called Owariyokereba… (meaning "If it ends well…") and Sisterly Advice. Owariyokereba… is a KaiShin and HakuSera fic of fun, silly, sappiness while Sisterly Advice is about Kaito giving a teenage Ayumi relationship and life advice. It's a cute, sweet one, so check those two out. The rest of the Prompt Exchange 2 fics will be posted here when they're written…provided they don't grow to full-length fic proportions too. ^.^; I've been writing more than I've been intending lately. Have a great New Year, guys!


	21. sgamer82

Mikau: Hi guys! Long time no see. Special thanks to reviewers from last time: Kimmiko T, Shana-Fujioka, neonquincy1217, and APTX-1412. Most of the prompts from the subsequent exchanges have spawned much larger fics, so I haven't had anything to add to this collection until now. This is from Poirot Café's Prompt Exchange Five. Characters include the Shounen Tanteidan, Haibara, Conan, and a poor terrified mouse that found its way into the classroom.

Disclaimer: DCMK is the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho, and the prompt for this chapter was sent in by sgamer82 on Poirot Café.

…

 **sgamer82: A mouse in the classroom.**

Ayumi's scream was becoming sadly familiar to the other Tanteidan members, so when they first heard it before the start of homeroom that Tuesday morning, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Haibara all thought that Ayumi had simply found yet another body. When they all whipped around to look at the screeching girl, they became confused, wondering if perhaps it were only a body part, as little Ayumi was looking at the inside of her desk and screaming her head off.

Intermingled somewhere in the incoherent wails, tears, and panicked "Kyaaaaaa"s, seemed to be the word "mouse".

And then it leapt from the desk, into Ayumi's lap, and no one was confused any longer.

Pandemonium quickly spread throughout the classroom as Ayumi jumped to her feet, flailing and shrieking like a siren. Two thirds of the girls present joined her in her squeals of horror, tripping over one another as they fled, fearing that the intruder would next jump on them.

Even some of the boys let out concerned yelps as they slowly backed away, afraid, but too aware of the expectations placed upon them as men to show that fear as openly as the girls.

Once she'd shaken her attacker free, Ayumi's knees gave out on her, and she sank to the ground, sobbing, too exhausted from her ordeal to do anything else.

The shaken mouse scampered off in terror and confusion, only to have a shoe hurtled at it by the brave Genta.

"Get it!" one of the girls yelled.

"Kill it!" urged one of the boys.

"Stop this instant!" shouted Haibara Ai, glaring at her fellow first graders. "You leave that mouse alone! Can't you see how scared he is?"

A hush fell over the children, and they all stared at Haibara, waiting for her to suggest an alternative to their behavior. She sounded so authoritative, though, and she had always acted so much more mature than the rest of them. They looked upon her as a leader on the few occasions she chose to speak up because, in those instances, like now, she seemed like one of the grownups who could be trusted and relied upon for instruction.

Seeing that she had their attention, Haibara smiled softly and reassuringly as she cautiously crept towards where the trembling mouse had taken shelter in one of the cubby holes.

"He's much more afraid of us than we are of him," she informed them. "And he won't hurt us. Will you?" she addressed the little ball of white curled up on itself in the very back corner. "Come here, little one. Where did you come from? I promise I won't hurt you."

"Here," Conan's soft voice came at her left, his breath tickling her ear as he put a hand on her shoulder and crouched down beside her. "Let me," he offered, showing her a plastic cup he had grabbed from the arts and crafts supplies when he'd walked into a classroom of shrieking children and ascertained what had happened.

Haibara was careful to hide the blush coloring her cheeks as she pulled back out of the way, letting him capture their uninvited guest.

"Hey, little guy," Conan called gently, carefully sliding the mouse out and holding him up to eye level. "It looks like somebody's pet got loose. This is the kind of little white mouse you buy at the pet store," he observed.

"Then we should probably keep it and try to find its owner," Mitsuhiko suggested, approaching warily.

"Where are we gonna keep it?" Genta came to stare inquisitively at the squirming form under the clear plastic cup.

"It's…kind of cute," Ayumi noted, getting up the courage to peek over Conan's shoulder. "And that was so cool how you caught it, Conan-kun! You're so brave!" she cooed, clinging to his arm.

Haibara tried not to snicker as Conan smiled sheepishly, tolerating Ayumi's girlish crush.

"Haibara's the cool one," Conan corrected, catching Ai by surprise. He turned to Haibara and smiled. "It was really cool how you stood up for this little guy."

Haibara couldn't turn away fast enough to keep him from seeing her cheeks turn scarlet that time, but she made a show of waving away his praise with almost inaudible protests of "It was nothing", "It reminded me of the lab mice", and "I couldn't bear to see the poor thing terrified like that".

But Conan still smiled knowingly at her, and it made her ears burn. Because she knew he saw through her.


End file.
